One more slice of good news...

In my never ending quest for positive economic news, I present the following sample from today's Sacramento Bee:

The latest on California politics and government
June 8, 2009
Could be worse... we could be Oregon
Today's "Recessionary Silver Lining" comes from David Crane, who is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's special adviser for advice on jobs and economic growth. Crane points out that even as deep in the toilet as California's economy has been in the past 18 months, it's still diverse enough that it actually grew (albeit by a tiny 0.4 percent) in 2008.
According to stats compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Golden State's "real Gross Domestic Product" (money spent on goods and services, plus investment and foreign trade, adjusted for inflation) withstood declines in construction, finance and insurance by enjoying slight growth in information, professional and technical services.
Moreover, Crane said in a memo to "interested parties" last week, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reports that through February of this year, California ranked 16th in terms of late-2008-early-2009 economic performance. (Alaska was first, Oregon last.)
Alas. Crane points out that because California government is so heavily dependent on income tax revenues from wealthy people, and wealthy people's incomes are often dependent heavily on the fortunes of Wall Street, state budget revenues remain pathetically low.
"A tax system that looks more like California's economy will be much more stable than the current system," Crane says.
Heck, we'd probably settle for one that looked like Alaska's...