Washington’s revenue collections report out this week was good news. The actual revenue was $2.5 million above the forecast. Being off by $2.5 million (0.3%) means Dr. Raha hit the bullseye – this is within the margin of error. Perhaps I shouldn’t be so excited about a flat collections report, but flat is the new up these days.
Read the collections report here: https://www.erfc.wa.gov/publications/documents/oct10.pdf
The New York Times also reports good news. Theirs is somewhat better – reporting that September sales nationally were better than expected.
Back-to-school sales that were stronger than expected have retailers cautiously hoping consumers are back and gearing up for a robust holiday shopping season. As they emerged from a slow summer, many of the nation’s retailers on Thursday reported unexpectedly good sales in September at stores open at least a year — a crucial indicator known as same-store sales. New York Times Oct. 7 2010
This is good, and will appear in the November collections report, though we’ll see it somewhat in the daily collection numbers. These aren’t typically published because they make you crazy. If some kid at Costco forgets to push a button some afternoon and does it in the morning instead the numbers are off by an order of magnitude. They only really make sense at the end of the month.