OPINION | GREG KAZA: We’re not 49th

It's often said in these latitudes that Arkansas is a perennial 49th among states, a fable expressed by the adage, 'Thank God for Mississippi.' To accept this legend, one must ignore federal economic reports.

Consider employment, income and production metrics. The first is reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The others by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

The natural state of a market-based economy is expansion. Since the turn of the century, the U.S. economy has expanded 90 percent of the time, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research's business cycle chronology. In the last 15 years that percentage increases to 98.8 percent, with a brief, two-month recession in that 180-month period.

Arkansans benefit from a growing economy in expansion.

First,