States avoiding red ink?

The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 12/14/8

The economy’s tanking. Tax revenues are less than anticipated and while spending cuts have already been ordered, more almost certainly loom in the future.

That’s reality in Mississippi and in 43 other states, according to a recent study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that specializes in state fiscal policies.

When the curtain goes up on the Mississippi Legislature’s 2009 regular session next month, the lawmakers and Gov. Haley Barbour will face fiscal challenges similar to that being experienced across the nation during a deepening recession.