Human Interest Story: What California Could Learn From North Dakota

I assume I've posted a link to this story, but I can't find it, so maybe I didn't. It's too good a story to be lost, so I'm posting the link again: what North Dakota knows that California doesn't (originally published in February, 2012).

If California policymakers want to lift the state out of its economic malaise, they would do well to emulate . . . North Dakota. Once the least-visited state in America, the Peace Garden State is rapidly becoming the economic envy of the nation. Its 3.5 percent unemployment rate is the lowest of any state, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. North Dakota also boasts a state budget surplus of $1 billion. Compare these figures with California’s 11.7 percent unemployment rate—second highest in the country—and a likely $13 billion budget deficit in the coming fiscal year, and suddenly the Great Plains look like an attractive alternative to the Golden State.

Lots of story lines here, also, but I'm too tired tonight to write any more (and feeling a bit too cynical -- perhaps it is best  not write any more).