The Truly Great Plains
Here's an interesting read from today's Wall Street Journal:
Update from the Whistler: Here's a link to the story that doesn't require a subscritpion.
Boom times have indeed reached North Dakota. Of course, if you listen to Democrats here in the state you'd think we're all just struggling to get by. Howard Dean visited the state's Democrats recently (all except for the state's top three Democrats who avoided him like the plague) and then went on Meet The Press and told the nation that "those folks need help." "You should see what's going on in North Dakota," he said. "[P]eople [are] losing their health care."
Clearly, things are not as bleak as Howard Dean would have you believe. But then, with things in North Dakota going so well under Republicans the only way state Democrats can get themselves elected is by trying to get citizens to buy into the idea that things are worse than they really are. It's pretty typical of liberal politics. What North Dakota voters need to ask themselves is who they're going to believe: The folks trying to paint a bleak picture to get themselves elected or the folks currently in charge who seem to be doing a pretty good job?
Also, this from the article was knee-slappingly hilarious:
Funny how Dorgan trumpets the resurgence of North Dakota's energy industry (thanks to high gas prices which have prompted the oil industry to invest money in domestic oil production) while simultaneously supporting a "windfall profits tax" that would deny the oil industry the revenues they're using to invest in North Dakota. It's clear that Dorgan either doesn't understand basic economics or doesn't really have this state's best interests at heart.
What Dorgan (and a lot of people in North Dakota) fail to realize is that it is North Dakota's fossil fuels - rather than the alternative fuel energy which is propped up by nothing more than tax dollars - that is driving this state's success:
I'd like to post more from this article as it is a fantastic run-down of all the things that are going right for North Dakota, but I don't want to run afoul of fair use statutes. If you're a Wall Street Journanl subscriber though be sure to read the whole thing.
As I said above, we're in boom times for North Dakota...but we should also remember to be cautious. The state has a massive budget surplus, but now is not the time for heavy spending nor is it the time for new regulations and bureaucracy. Now is the time for pro-growth policies so that we can keep this boom alive. North Dakota needs to cut taxes and cut regulations that might inhibit new businesses and industries from moving into the state. We also need to work with the energy industry to ensure that our state is doing what it can to be open to new energy projects (and along with those projects more jobs for North Dakotans).
I can only hope that our state's political leaders get this.
Update from the Whistler: Here's a link to the story that doesn't require a subscritpion.
BISMARCK, N.D. -- At a time when the much-celebrated coasts creak from rising interest rates, faltering income levels and soaring energy prices, this windswept, energy-rich city of 57,000 on the western edge of the Dakota plains is experiencing the best of times. Cities like this one out in the far-off hinterland -- Iowa City, Sioux Falls, Fargo, Grand Forks, Rapid City -- now are enjoying job growth rates that, if they don't rival Las Vegas, certainly put to shame those of most major metropolitan areas. Unemployment is negligible and wages are rising across virtually all job categories.
Over the past five years, the fastest growth in per capita income has taken place in energy-rich Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, New Mexico and West Virginia, while highly urbanized places like California, New York, Michigan and Illinois gather dust at the bottom of the pack. Tax revenues in these once hard-pressed states are also soaring; North Dakota's surplus is now estimated at $527 million, representing more than a quarter of the state's $2 billion annual budget.
Behind the good times are numerous factors, such as an Internet-enabled shift of technology and business service firms into the region, and a growing migration of downshifting boomers and young families.
Boom times have indeed reached North Dakota. Of course, if you listen to Democrats here in the state you'd think we're all just struggling to get by. Howard Dean visited the state's Democrats recently (all except for the state's top three Democrats who avoided him like the plague) and then went on Meet The Press and told the nation that "those folks need help." "You should see what's going on in North Dakota," he said. "[P]eople [are] losing their health care."
Clearly, things are not as bleak as Howard Dean would have you believe. But then, with things in North Dakota going so well under Republicans the only way state Democrats can get themselves elected is by trying to get citizens to buy into the idea that things are worse than they really are. It's pretty typical of liberal politics. What North Dakota voters need to ask themselves is who they're going to believe: The folks trying to paint a bleak picture to get themselves elected or the folks currently in charge who seem to be doing a pretty good job?
Also, this from the article was knee-slappingly hilarious:
But perhaps the most dramatic change has come from an upsurge of energy prices that is turning places like North Dakota into a Nordic Abu Dhabi.
"We're on the verge of a gold rush driven by energy," crows Bob Valeu, state coordinator for North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan. Mr. Valeu and other leaders here in both political parties see their state as a growing bastion of energy production for the U.S. Already North Dakota is among the major exporters of energy to the rest of the country, exporting roughly three-fourths of its 4,000 megawatts of electricity.
Funny how Dorgan trumpets the resurgence of North Dakota's energy industry (thanks to high gas prices which have prompted the oil industry to invest money in domestic oil production) while simultaneously supporting a "windfall profits tax" that would deny the oil industry the revenues they're using to invest in North Dakota. It's clear that Dorgan either doesn't understand basic economics or doesn't really have this state's best interests at heart.
What Dorgan (and a lot of people in North Dakota) fail to realize is that it is North Dakota's fossil fuels - rather than the alternative fuel energy which is propped up by nothing more than tax dollars - that is driving this state's success:
Huge deposits of lignite coal, estimated at 35 billion tons, remain a primary source of electrical generation and synthetic natural gas. This makes the cost of energy half as expensive or less than in New York or California. Oil, as well, is booming. Five years ago, with oil prices low, notes Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, there were virtually no rigs operating in the state's Williston Basin. Today his members, consisting of around 140 oil and gas firms of all sizes, are on a hiring spree. They've added 1,500 new jobs -- most paying $23 an hour and up -- and have still another 200 openings to fill.
This spike in employment could just be the beginning if the largely untapped Bakken oil formation proves to have the reserves, upwards of 200 and 300 billion barrels of crude, that some geologists expect. Development of the Bakken could turn western North Dakota, as well as parts of Montana and Canada, into one of the world's largest new energy centers. Even without it, things are busy as can be in places like Dickinson, located in Stark County, population 25,000, not far from rugged Badlands country. The county now has over 800 job openings, not all of them energy-related. Unemployment barely exists -- under 3% -- notes Gaylon Baker, a director of the Stark County Development Corporation. "Anyone who wants to show up for work around here," he told me, "has a job."
I'd like to post more from this article as it is a fantastic run-down of all the things that are going right for North Dakota, but I don't want to run afoul of fair use statutes. If you're a Wall Street Journanl subscriber though be sure to read the whole thing.
As I said above, we're in boom times for North Dakota...but we should also remember to be cautious. The state has a massive budget surplus, but now is not the time for heavy spending nor is it the time for new regulations and bureaucracy. Now is the time for pro-growth policies so that we can keep this boom alive. North Dakota needs to cut taxes and cut regulations that might inhibit new businesses and industries from moving into the state. We also need to work with the energy industry to ensure that our state is doing what it can to be open to new energy projects (and along with those projects more jobs for North Dakotans).
I can only hope that our state's political leaders get this.
