<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">On Tue, Oct 7, 2025 at 8:20 AM <<a href="mailto:spike@rainier66.com">spike@rainier66.com</a>> wrote:</span></div></div><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr"><br></div></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex" class="gmail_quote"><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">></span>Have the amazing developments in AI during the last five years caused anybody else to change any of their economic opinions?</span></b>  <b><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">John K Clark</span></b></blockquote></div></blockquote><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"> </blockquote><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div class="msg-8180079381278390177"><div lang="EN-US" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div class="m_-8180079381278390177WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">> </span>I changed on that to some extent.  I have always been a free-trade advocate and I am still.  But I changed in the way I see tariffs today is a reminder of the universality of Laffer theory.<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">   </span> <span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">[ ...] </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">The US experimentation with tariffs will remind us that Laffer theory applies regardless of what form is the taxation.</span></i></p></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><b>The difference is foreign governments don't care how much money <span class="gmail_default" style="">the US </span>extracts from <span class="gmail_default" style="">its</span> citizens through income tax<span class="gmail_default" style="">, but they care very much if the money is extracted from their citizens if it's in the form of a tariff, and so they inevitably respond with tariffs of their own against the US, and <u>EVERYBODY</u> loses. For example China had been the largest purchaser of American grown soybeans but in September they stopped buying them entirely and switched to buying them from Brazil, and it's estimated that American farmers will lose about $50 billion a year as a result. And it's not just soybeans, the</span> total <span class="gmail_default" style="">US </span>exports to China fell 16.8% in the three months between June and August 2025 compared to<span class="gmail_default" style=""></span> <span class="gmail_default" style="">the </span>same period last year</b></font></div><span class="gmail-inline-flex"><a href="https://www.cov.com/en/news-and-insights/insights/2025/07/us-tariffs-and-brazils-potential-response-a-guide-for-businesses" target="_blank" class="gmail-group/tag gmail-relative gmail-h-[18px] gmail-rounded-full gmail-inline-flex gmail-items-center gmail-overflow-hidden gmail--translate-y-px gmail-cursor-pointer"><span class="gmail-relative gmail-transition-colors gmail-h-full gmail-max-w-[180px] gmail-overflow-hidden gmail-px-1.5 gmail-inline-flex gmail-items-center gmail-font-small gmail-rounded-full gmail-border-0.5 gmail-border-border-300 gmail-bg-bg-200 gmail-group-hover/tag:bg-accent-secondary-900 gmail-group-hover/tag:border-accent-secondary-100/60"><span class="gmail-text-nowrap gmail-text-text-300 gmail-break-all gmail-truncate gmail-font-normal gmail-group-hover/tag:text-text-200"></span></span></a></span><div><br></div><font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><span class="gmail_default" style=""><b style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"></b><b>S</b></span><b>peaking of Brazil<span class="gmail_default" style="">, Spike</span> I'd be interested to hear your opinion of the 50% tariff that He Who Must Not Be Named imposed on Brazil even though the US had a trade <u style="">SURPLUS </u>with Brazil of over $8 billion. You Know Who said he did it because a Brazilian court found former president Jair Bolsonaro guilty of instigating a failed coup d'état after he lost his attempt at reelection. He Who Must Not Be Named seems to have taken that as a personal insult, I can't imagine why.</b></font></div><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><b><br></b></font></div><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><font size="4" face="tahoma, sans-serif"><b><span class="gmail_default" style="">John K Clark</span><br></b></font></div></div>