Cue all the “Couldn’t work here because...” and “Doesn’t scale...” and “Wouldn’t work for the national economy” comments from the private banks.

Flawed premise anyway.

The “secret” is really based in the oil: it takes far more people to extract and ship the oil in North Dakota than it does to extract and ship oil in Alaska. Alaska’s oil industry can be more automated than can North Dakota’s. The bank helps, but it contributes, it isn’t the reason.

Besides, if people who work in car washes, for example, get paid $12 a hour (not including tips), I wonder how long it’s going to be before we get the stories about runaway costs of living in ND. Not that I think people should be paid near-slave wages, but economics tend to be Newtonian. ("For every action...")