Total State Tax Collections Decline in 2009

1. Kansas reported Thursday that it collected $3 million more in taxes than anticipated in September. It was the third consecutive month the state met or surpassed its projections.

1. The Massachusetts Department of Revenue collected $2.053 billion in January, an 11.3 percent increase over January 2010.

1. Georgia's economic picture brightened with the news that state tax and fee collections increased in September by nearly 6 percent over the same month a year ago. It is the fourth consecutive month of positive revenue collections and follows a 13 percent jump in August. Revenue was up 3.8 percent in June and 4.7 percent in July.

1. Texas collected sales tax revenue totalling $1.57 billion in September, up by 6.8 percent from September 2009.  "This increase is significantly larger than recent monthly gains which have been in the 0 to 2 percent range,” said Texas Comptroller Susan Combs.

Here's a story you can expect to see in the Wall Street Journal or Financial Times tomorrow. You can read it here today.

Except for the dust-up (cyclone?) over the Reinhart and Rogoff results on debt and growth, it's a bit of a slow day and I need to get to a meeting. So, reaching back a few days for a quick post, Joseph Stiglitz does not "eschew the word 'fair'":

A summary of California State Finances for August 2012 looks like this:

On Tuesday we heard news that July retail sales rose, breaking a three-month downtrend. Doug Short at advisor Perspectives has a great set of charts in his report Retail Sales: At Last, an Improvement! Doug puts the improvement in proper perspective. However, my first thought in reading the report was "July sales will be likely revised lower". Now I'm Wondering "What's Going on in California?"