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Published Thursday, October 09, 2008 in Opinion
A glimmer of sunshine peeks through those cloudy economic skies
Editorial
With all the gloom and doom we are getting from the economy these days, it's good to hear some positive news. There was a glimmer of sunshine in the otherwise cloudy economic skies Wednesday afternoon when our state released revenue numbers for September.
Tax collections for the month were up 4.5 percent. That was the first increase in four months. With September's good stats, revenues for the fiscal year remained down 2.6 percent, or $110 million.
Is this a turnaround in the revenue picture for the state? At least one key lawmaker, Rep. Ben Harbin, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, told the Associated Press he was "cautiously optimistic. ... It looks like we may be finally hitting the bottom."
But we can't be too optimistic. Month-to-month revenue collections fluctuate in the state. One month's collections does not automatically point to an upward trend.
There's still much turmoil on Wall Street and in financial markets around the world. There may be many more cloudy days before we see a brighter economy.
Harbin tempered his "cautiously optimistic" enthusiasm, saying uncertainty following the $700 billion congressional bailout makes it too soon to say for certain if our revenue collections have turned the corner. Georgia's budget crunch remains.
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