Boom Town, USA

This video from the Heritage Foundation and the Institute for Energy Research is called “The North Dakota Miracle: Fracking in the Bakken.” North Dakota is booming like no other state in the Union; part of the explanation, of course, is oil. But as you watch the video, ask yourself: could any blue state ever take off economically as North Dakota has?

It would be a mistake to attribute North Dakota’s prosperity solely to the coincidence of the Bakken Shale. South Dakota has no oil at all, and yet its unemployment is only slightly higher, and its growth rate only slightly lower, than North Dakota’s. For both states, the keys to prosperity are business-friendly governments and hard-working, conservative populations.

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