North Dakota's Gift to it's people. Thanks to Oil and Agriculture, the economic sun is shining on North Dakota.
As the Rest of the nation sinks into a 12th grim month of recession, North Dakota, at least up until now, has been quietly reveling in a picture so different that it might well be on another planet.
The number of new cars sold statewide was 27 percent higher this year than last.
North Dakota foreclosure rate was minuscule, among the lowest in the country.
While dozens of states have desperately begun grappling with gaping deficits, lawmakers in Bismarch were complemplating what to do with a $1.2 Billion budget surplus.
North Dakota's umemployment rate is 3.4 percent, among the lowest in the country.
North Dakota's cheery circumstances - can be explained by the odd collection of circumstances.
A recent surge in oil production that catapulted the state to fifth-largest producer in the nation;
A mostly strong year for farmers, (agriculture is the states biggest business;
And a conservative steady, a never-fancy culture that has nurtured fewer sudden booms of wealth like those seen elsewhere.
As it happens, one of the state's biggest worries right now is precisely the reverse of most other states:
North Dakota has about 13,000 unfilled jobs and is struggling to find people to take them.
The people feel like they are living in a bubble, their people go to work every day knowing that they're going to get a paycheck and that they will go back to their jobs the next day.