No, North Dakota is not the Greece of the U.S.

(inforum.com) 07/25/15  FARGO -- Fargo doesn’t look much like Athens, but a recent report calls North Dakota the American version of Greece, the debt-addled Mediterranean nation.

Out of all the U.S. states, North Dakota, according to a report from CNBC, is the worst leech on the federal government. From 2011 to 2014, it took in an annual average of $31.4 billion in federal spending while paying far less -- $6.4 billion -- in federal taxes.

The report says North Dakota receives 71 percent of its gross domestic product in federal dollars. The difference between the federal taxes paid versus federal spending, as a percentage of the state’s overall economic activity, was lower in North Dakota that in any other state.

Minnesota, on the other hand, pays more in federal taxes than it receives in federal spending. By the same metric of taxes minus spending as a percentage of GDP, only one state ranked higher than Minnesota.

In other words, North Dakota gets a high proportion of its economic activity from the feds. And Minnesota has one of the highest rates of contributing to federal coffers.

Thus, the comparison between North Dakota and Greece. The latter, in the midst of a debt crisis, is looking to the European Union for cash.

“Just as in Europe, some U.S. states end up taking more and some states end up giving more,” the CNBC report states.

But is the comparison fair?

No way, said David Flynn, director of the bureau of business and economic research at the University of North Dakota.

“I don’t understand the equating of federal government spending with the situation in Greece, which is a debt situation with their country. Their debts are too high,” Flynn said.

A spokesman for U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., also smacked down the report.

“Obviously, there’s no comparison between North Dakota and Greece,” Don Canton said in an email. “We have a budget surplus and have prudently set aside a rainy day fund.”

North Dakota, a state with a low population and a pricy military presence, does receive more in federal spending than it pays in federal taxes, Flynn said.

“But the notion that the federal government is spending more in North Dakota than they get in tax revenue, and that is automatically bad, is silly,” Flynn said. “It’s a specious claim.”

Check out the CNBC report here: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/21/if-greece-were-a-state-it-would-be.html