Michigan vs. Texas

Over the past couple weeks, I've come across two very different takes on how fate has taken Texas and Michigan in different directions:
Michael Barone's piece in the WSJ -
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903392904576509992605316426.html
and
Brian Dickerson's piece in the Free Press -
http://www.freep.com/article/20110828/COL04/108280450/Texas-stomps-Michigan-Osama-MVP-
Of course, I can't really argue that Big Auto and Big Labor did not ultimately work out for Michigan and pretty much self-imploded...I don't think the Texas model is built on geographic benefits (i.e., proximity to oil) as much as on anything else. We'll see how much credit Rick Perry gets for an economic miracle that really isn't...