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The University of Minnesota-Morris report, the KeyLog study, and Marshall Helmberger's economic analysis (which he presented in detail at Grand Ely Lodge this past Tuesday) show that tourism is only a part of what has sustained Ely for the past 50 years. The Boundary Waters and a healthy national forest attract people who retire here, move here to start businesses or for jobs, or telecommute from Ely. This broad-based economy is far healthier and more sustainable than the economy of any Minnesota mining town. As Bob Tammen says, mining can be great for the relatively few people who have mining jobs, but it's horrible for communities. Mining communities typically feature high unemployment; Minnesota mining towns are no exception. On September 21, 2013, the Mesabi Daily News wrote: “Even though mining . . . is running at near-full capacity, the employment . . . numbers don’t add up anywhere near as well for the Iron Range as the statewide averages . . . . [A] comparison of the statewide employment rate with that of the Iron Range shows the area’s jobless rate is 64 percent higher than the overall Minnesota level.” Senator Dave Tomassoni said: “It’s always a mystery to me why we are lagging in employment when our mining industry is doing so well.” It’s a mystery only to those who have drunk the mining Kool-Aid. The environmental, political, and economic impact of mining drives out healthy, sustainable economic activity—Appalachia, the ghost towns of the West, the Minnesota Iron Range. Yet in the face of persistently high unemployment on the Range, mining boosters take the indefensible position that more boom-and-bust mining will solve all problems.