The Weekly Top 3

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of June 15, 2026. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain the reason why the Bullet Line (now called Phase 1 of the #AKLNG project) has never been built and question why some think #AKLNG overcomes it (2:12), 2) we dive deep into the #AKLNG bill and discuss why we think Alaska will be at significant risk if we build Phase 1 without the Phase 2 commitments in hand (19:15), and 3) we shift over to the federal side to discuss the looming problems with Social Security and explain why we are concerned they may hit Alaska harder than most (39:33). Go to the Show’s Soundcloud page here for this and other complete podcasts of The Michael Dukes Show.

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of February 9, 2026. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain how the response of the House Finance Committee to the Governor's proposed fiscal plan badly fails working class Alaska families (2:08), 2) we discuss how their reaction to the Governor's proposed fiscal plan proves even "progressives" really don't care about the economic situation faced by working class Alaska families (19:18), and 3) we explain how the new data on non-resident workers acts as a report card on how the Legislature is treating working age Alaska families, giving them a failing grade (39:39).

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of January 26, 2026. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) now that all of the pieces have been filed, we explain and start to analyze Governor Dunleavy's proposed fiscal plan (2:09), 2) stripped of the hype, we discuss how far along the Alaska LNG project is really (17:39), and 3) we explain why, rather than writing op-eds patting themselves on the back, the Permanent Fund Corporation Board members should be doubling down on working harder to achieve the earnings levels the Fund should be generating (38:34).

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of January 12, 2026. This week, we are using the segment to discuss our Top 5 fiscal priorities for this coming legislative session: In the first part of the segment (at 2:30), we discuss our first and second priorities: * Opposing the consolidation of the current two-account Permanent Fund system into a single account, and * Reforming oil taxes In the second part (at 18:04), we discuss our third and fourth priorities, both of which are designed to reduce the current disproportionate burden imposed by state fiscal policy on middle and lower-income Alaska families and the overall Alaska economy: * Restructuring and constitutionalizing the PFD, and * Coupled with a spending cap, adopting a broad-based tax, and And in the final part (at 40:05), we discuss our fifth priority: * Reforming the Permanent Fund Corporation Board to refocus its membership on those having substantial investment expertise and experience.

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of December 15, 2025. For those who follow us, this is our last podcast for 2025. After taking a couple of weeks off for the holidays, we will return on January 6, 2026. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we explain what the Department of Revenue's Fall Revenue Forecast tells us about state petroleum revenues (2:07), 2) we explain what OMB's 10-year forecast tells us about the outlines of a potential solution to the state's never-ending fiscal crises (17:08), and 3) in our wrap-up to this, our last show of 2025, we do our annual "Christmas Top 3" (35:43).