Drill, Drill, Drill = Jobs, Jobs, Jobs in Michigan

SWEETWATER — About a year ago, talk began circulating in this West Texas town about a huge oil-producing formation called the Cline Shale, east of the traditional drilling areas around Midland.

The Great Recession hit small towns hard. Many saw factories close and jobs dry up. But according to a new analysis, small-town America is actually experiencing an economic revival thanks to an oil and gas boom. According to government data analyzed by USA Today, inflation-adjusted income has increased 3.8% per person between 2007 and 2011 for the roughly 50 million Americans who live in small cities, towns, and rural areas. Compare that to almost the same percentage drop (3.5%) in metropolitan areas, and a shift in wealth begins to emerge, one flowing from cities to rural regions.

If there's any doubt that domestic drilling of oil and gas generate huge and significant positive economic benefits (more jobs, i

Each week, Baker Hughes puts out a tally of all the oil and gas rigs in North America. Lately, the numbers have been going sideways, and before that had come down a bit. Here's the chart:  

1. REUTERS -- "Oil output from shale prospects in unconventional sources from North Dakota to Texas could reach 1.5 million to 2 million barrels-per-day (bpd) in the coming five to seven years, twice as much as the 700,000 bpd currently produced in these places."

The Green River Formation is a largely vacant region of mostly federal land on the western edge of the Rocky Mountains that includ

The "Economic Miracle State" of North Dakota pumped another record amount of oil during the month of January at a daily rate of m