, every nightly network newscast has featured a story about how bad the retail picture is for merchants in America. Talking heads seem to compete for the most mournful adjectives they can find. The segments are as predictable as the commercials for medicines to cure whatever happens to ail us.

Well, how about this statistic? For December 2008, the City of Vicksburg’s sales tax rebate check from the state Tax Commission was 1.92 percent less than December 2007. That’s a drop — but it’s far from catastrophic.

And how about this number? Vicksburg begins its fiscal years each Oct. 1. For that month, plus November and December, the city’s rebate check is up 6.13 percent over the first quarter of fiscal 2007.

There is no better indicator of local commercial activity than the sales tax report. The state imposes a 7 percent levy on almost everything, exempting a few items such as residential utility bills and prescription drugs. When prices rise, income from the sales tax levy goes up, even when commercial activity remains flat. The price of food, especially groceries, has risen. But prices haven’t risen enough to explain why, if the economy is as horrible as we’re told, sales tax revenue in Vicksburg is nearly the same or, for a three-month period, increasing.

There’s no denying that the local economy is stressed. Almost daily we’ve reported employment cutbacks and company shutdowns. Times are tough and, as the politicians keep telling us, the economy may well grow worse before it gets better.

It would help, though, if we could rely on honest, objective appraisals instead of fawning negativity that prevails and sours attitudes. Try this: Mention to someone today the objective fact that Wal-Mart’s total December 2008 sales were 1.7 percent higher than December 2007. See if you don’t get a look of disbelief.

The economy is ailing. But people are ill-served when the situation is made to sound worse than it is.