Rarely do I give CNBC praise. This is the NBC television affiliate with nonstop market news and where the anchors and hosts achieve celebrity status. Jim Cramer is certainly the best recognized. What a shrinking violet, right?

Yes, this is the venue that often times drives me to say, “Turn off your TV!” It seems they are bearish only when the market is low and bullish only when the market is hitting the peaks. Don’t they know that the goal of investing is to buy low and to sell high?

They dish out some information on relevant topics, but too much of their time is devoted to opinion and we know that everyone has one. That’s not news. Unfortunately, their trusting public can be hearing viewpoints espoused by a guest for their own personal gain, not yours.

Well, I didn’t turn off my TV on July 9, when CNBC presented their second annual look and ranking of “America’s Top States for Business.” They rank all 50 states on 10 factors: cost of doing business, work force, economy, education, quality of life, technology and innovation, transportation, cost of living, business friendliness and access to capital. The details can be found at http://www.cnbc.com/id/25192671.

Texas won the top spot as America’s Top State for Business in 2008. Woo hoo! I’m proud. It should not be a complete shock, as Texas was in second place last year. It just goes to show that when you’re No. 2, you try harder. Congratulations Gov. Perry, it was great to see your mug that day instead of Cramer’s.

In what factors out of the 10 did Texas really excel? Economy was No. 1. Our growth rate in Texas is 4.1 percent, and the unemployment rate is a low 4.3 percent. Ironically, we also ranked No. 1 in transportation. The criteria here was access to transportation in all modes, with an emphasis on total value of goods shipped from the state, ease of air travel and quality of road infrastructure.

But unfortunately, Texas fell down in two categories — cost of doing business and education. We ranked 27th in cost of doing business, which was measured by the tax burden, utility costs, cost of wages and rental costs. We ranked 30th for education. That’s really something to aim to improve. This category was scored through traditional measures, like test scores, class size and spending, along with the number of higher education institutes.

Let’s cheer for this No. 1 spot. While we need to take to heart the areas where we did not look so pretty, I’m proud and glad that I turned on the TV that day. If Texas were a stock, I’d definitely have some in my portfolio.