WHERE ARE THE CUSTOMER'S YACHTS?

That's the ironically intended title of a book from the American High expressing some, shall we say, skepticism about Wall Street's efforts to promote a peoples' capitalism: "Because if advice worked, there would be more yachts belong to the customers."

On the other hand, consider what's happened at the Head of the Lakes.  The harbor facilities of Duluth and Superior were once quintessentially Rust Belt: coal, and before the pipelines, petroleum products in, iron ore (lots of iron ore) and grain out.  Only the Port of New York and New Jersey used to move more tonnage in a year, and more than a little of that might have been food or manufactured products for export that made use of that ore or grain.

A recent visit, though, got me thinking about the sort of privilege hoarding and upward concentration of wealth I keep hearing about.  It would make sense of a sort for the people of Duluth and Superior to preserve a lake freighter or two for the benefit of tourists.

William A. Irvin was the flagship of the United States Steel fleet until the late 1960s.  It never paid to rebuild this boat as a self-unloader.

Look across the slip, though, where one of the warehouse complexes once stood, and behold a yacht basin.

Something about this isn't adding up: with all that upward concentration of wealth, what's the value proposition in converting a Great Lakes harbor that ices over earlier and unfreezes later than almost anywhere this side of Port Baikal into a series of yacht basins?

That's another look over Irwin's rail, showing lake-faring sailboats, with some of the converted industrial buildings behind.  All over the Duluth harbor are former warehouses converted to lofts or hotels, and on the Superior side, where the bigger grain terminals once were, there's a massive yacht basin as well.  Should be impossible given all that upward hoarding of wealth, shouldn't it?

Actually, no.  The information technology capitalists might have been able to capture a lot of value a nickel at a time.  The people paying the prices for the use of Amazon or Apple or Microsoft or Google products or services might have placed a subjective valuation of more than what they paid for those items on those items.  Enough so, in some cases, to be able to spring for a yacht?

Three sailboats at play.  There might be a few powerboats out there as well.  It doesn't take as many iron boats to move the taconite any more, as the iron boats are bigger, and steel recycling has advanced so as to be able to produce a broader range of products.  It's not just for garbage cans and reinforcing bar any more.

But the iron boats go, as the mariners all know, with the Gales of November to come.

Mesabi Miner, perhaps my favorite iron boat name.  I'm not sure who the successor operator of Interlake Steel currently is.  It's still quite the show for the tourists thronging the Canal Park area of Duluth.  (Outdoor eateries!  Carriage rides!  Microbreweries!  Short walk to the Duluth Trading store!)

Who knows, might even be a few owners of the customers' yachts among those spectators.

Laker traffic isn't what it used to be: after Mesabi Miner's arrival at eight p.m., a saltie was due around eleven.