A national report released Tuesday shows that the income gap for Mississippians widened in the last decade. At first glance one would think that meant that the old adage &uot;the rich get richer and the poor get poorer&uot; was true.

What it really means in this case is that, yes, the rich did get richer and so did the poor.

And the study, produced by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute, shows that in Mississippi the poor got richer faster than did those already wealthy.

Income for the state’s upper class grew by 18 percent while the income of the poorest class grew by some 26 percent.

Nationally the earnings of the poorest fifth of Americans rose less than 1 percent between 1988 and 1998.

Statistics are pretty flexible, meaning you can see in them what you want to see in them, but it looks as though our state’s glass is far from being half empty.

Like in most other parts of the country, both Mississippi classes apparently have reaped the benefits of the recent bullish economy – either directly or through the trickle down.

And one need look no further to see such evidence than right here in Natchez.

Through wise money-management, the City of Natchez hasn’t had to raise taxes in 10 years. That alone is a pretty amazing fact, but coupled with tons of improvements in city services it’s astounding.

And let’s not forget our city has a wonderful, thriving downtown.

Perhaps we should all pause for a moment today and count our blessings because our cup is, in fact, half full.