Monthly Archives: March 2019

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of March 25, 2019.

The Weekly Top 3 is a regular weekly segment on The Michael Dukes Show. The Show broadcasts on FacebookLive and via streaming audio from the Show’s website weekdays from 6-8am. I join Michael on the Show each Tuesday from 6:20-7am for a discussion between the two of us about the three issues.

This week we only covered the first two of our Top 3 before running out of time: 1) the false choice the Alaska House Majority is pushing between spending cuts and PFD cuts — there are other options that are better for most Alaskans which the House steadfastly is refusing to discuss (at 2:14); and 2) Governor Mike Dunleavy’s 10-yr outlook — its the most important analysis we have seen in the seven years since the start of the state’s fiscal crisis (at 22:10). We will pick up the third — whether The Buckeye Institute (discussed in the 10-year plan) intends to provide the same type of look at the distributional impact of various options on Alaskans the Institute for Taxation & Economic Policy did in 2017 — on a subsequent podcast.

The segment is at the YouTube clip above. For those that prefer the audio version, it is available on our Soundcloud page here. For this and other complete podcasts of The Michael Dukes Show, go to the Show’s Soundcloud page here.

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of March 18, 2019.

The Weekly Top 3 is a regular weekly segment on The Michael Dukes Show. The Show broadcasts on FacebookLive and via streaming audio from the Show’s website weekdays from 6-8am. I join Michael on the Show each Tuesday from 6:20-7am for a discussion between the two of us about the three issues.

This week we start with a brief discussion of the controversy surrounding the treatment of the Governor’s proposed budget earlier this week in a House Finance Education Subcommittee hearing (at 2:05). Then we turn to our Top 3: 1) an update of our 10-yr outlook to reflect the Administration’s Spring Revenue Forecast — red ink for as far as the eye can see (6:45); 2) if we have to go there, why a #FlatTax is better than PFD cuts from the perspective of the avereage Alaska family (22:57), and 3) we discuss what is driving the growing federal deficit (43:27). We also include a summary of our first two points that Michael asked us to do at the beginning of the second hour of the Show (37:32 – 43:27).

The segment is at the YouTube clip above. For those that prefer the audio version, it is available on our Soundcloud page here. For this and other complete podcasts of The Michael Dukes Show, go to the Show’s Soundcloud page here.

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of March 4, 2019.

The Weekly Top 3 is a regular weekly segment on The Michael Dukes Show. The Show broadcasts on FacebookLive and via streaming audio from the Show’s website weekdays from 6-8am. I join Michael on the Show each Tuesday from, now 6:20-7am for a discussion between the two of us about the three issues.

This week our Top 3 issues are these: 1) we walk through a spreadsheet that explains why Governor Mike Dunleavy is doing what he’s doing on the budget (at 2:26), 2) we discuss why we believe a #FlatTax is better than PFD cuts & other options (20:01), and 3) before we go too far down the road of making changes, let’s reflect on what SB21 — the state’s 2013 oil tax reform — has accomplished (28:34).

The segment is at the YouTube clip above. For those that prefer the audio version, it is available on our Soundcloud page here. For this and other complete podcasts of The Michael Dukes Show, go to the Show’s Soundcloud page here.