Prairie Prosperity

As the American economy sinks deeper into the crap, North Dakota is almost recession-proof, according the front page of the New York Times.

Any adult North Dakotan can hardly remember a time when the state was not gripped with farm crises, bad jobs and constant out-migration. This prosperity thing is a little disconcerting.

A related question is, How bad did the rest of the country have to get for North Dakota to become the envy or every other state?