Serif DrawPlus x2 does Flash AS2 as well & is a bit more affordable than Adobe Flash... It doesn't have all the bells & whistles Adobe has, but it gets the job done pretty good. It's only $99.99 & handles Flash / Vector / Raster / Paint / CAD / & Edits Pdf's (All in one). here: www.serif.com/drawplus/drawplusx2/ <<~~ make sure to check out some there examples too, it will give you an idea of the flexibility the software has
There are some good programs out there to create flash banners and flash intros. Swish is easy to use and has some great effects and is easy to learn. Macromedia flash is more powerful but takes a while to get used to it but can be used to more complicated animations.
Try using amara or Koolmoves..they have great animation effects and produce clean graphics and texts. Personally, I dislike swish since the text seems to be a little "jagged" and blurry and doesn't create the clean, clear look that I can get from Amara or Koolmoves.