Busy time with lots to do

Over Thanksgiving weekend, retail stores in the Cape Girardeau area and generally nationally had the best or close to the best sales ever, according to an experienced local retailer.

The Diversion Channel bridge is projected to be completed by February or March, provided the water doesn't rise and the weather stays warm on the days the contractor needs to pour some concrete.

Handel's "Messiah" was presented to a packed house at Academic Hall this week. The performers (as always) obviously enjoyed performing as much as the audience appreciated the performances. It was well-rehearsed and professional. The four soloists were excellent. Thanks for a delightful musical evening.

The Broadway musical "Cats" scheduled for April 23 at the Show Me Center was marketed with early newspaper ads and handout leaflets at the Moscow Ballet's recent performance of "The Nutcracker" (an excellent production). Better hurry to get your tickets. Initial ticket sales greatly exceeded projections and a possible sellout appears to be in the making.

When the Minnesota Ballet presents its version of "The Nutcracker" Dec. 19 -20, about 70 local children will be performing as mice, snowflakes and angels galore. It will be interesting to see this group's interpretation of one of the great ballet classics.

States of recovery: Remember all that wailing an gnashing of press releases about the 50 states being in their worst fiscal shape in decades? Usually this moaning has been accompanied by some governor's plea for a tax increase.

As the national economy has begun to recover, so have state and local government revenues. State and local receipts have been rising smartly for the past six quarters, reaching a new quarterly record, to $1.409 trillion, in the third period of 2003. That's up nearly $100 billion from a year earlier, and about $78 billion in just the past nine months.

Some of this has come from greater federal aid, including the $20 billion that some Senators demanded as grease to pass the Bush tax cut. But especially in the most recent quarter ending September 30, business and sales tax receipts have begun to rise along with the pace of economic growth. By the way, even state and local personal income tax receipts are somewhat higher than they were 18 months ago. The beleaguered taxpayer has been pulling his revenue oar all through the recent leaner economic years.

The main reason the political class has been calling for higher taxes is because it hasn't done its part to control spending. Overall state and local spending kept rising to hit $1.419 trillion at the end of the third quarter, also a new quarterly record. That's up nearly $90 billion from 18 months earlier, and it means that the national "deficit" in state and local budgets has shrunk to less than $10 billion. With another few months of growth, that deficit should vanish entirely.

All of this is worth keeping in mind the next time you hear another state politician's tale of allegedly low-tax woe.

The latest governor to attempt this trick is Virginia's Mark Warner, who has at least had the wit to wrap his tax increase in the fine gauze of "tax reform." He's proposing to trade higher income and sales taxes for larger exemptions and deductions (and lower rates on those earning less than $20,000), but the result would still be a net $1 billion tax hike. And of course California Democrats are begging Arnold Schwarzenegger to raise taxes. So far he's resisting.

The Bush cuts in dividend taxes and in marginal income tax rates are spurring nationwide growth as advertised. The smart play for the states is to keep their spending in check and ride the rising revenue tide. -- The Wall Street Journal

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. -- Pericles (430 BC, and still true today)

Gary Rust is the chairman of Rust Communications.