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The map provides all sorts of interesting tidbits and anomalies if it is examined carefully. Consider the position of New York relative to the other states. In 2004, New York had the second largest state economy. In 2005, it was passed by Texas and dropped to third largest. But by 2007, the map suggests that New York had dropped to seventh place, behind less-populated and widely-denigrated neighbor New Jersey among other states. New York's GSP of over $950 billion in 2005 is compared on the map to Brazil's $621 billion economy (world's 17th largest) in 2007. Yet the Federal Reserve Bank of New York didn't notice any problem with New York's economy. Or consider the strange case of New Jersey, the number 8 state in 2005 with a GSP of around $430 billion but the number 5 state on the map, with a GSP comparable to Russia's at around $730 billion, a remarkable two-year increase. Nonetheless, most business people thought New Jersey was having a bleak year economically in 2006. What happened, did New Jersey annex part of New York City in 2006? And what about the map showing Wyoming, which is enjoying an energy boom, in dead last place, even though it was ahead of North Dakota and Vermont in 2005?

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