The Medium Changes, the Instinct for Control Doesn’t.
By Gregory Lai, Co-Chief Investment Officer
In recent weeks, I sat through a few town halls where financial leaders and academics shared their views. At one UC Irvine event, what stood out wasn’t a forecast—but a prop: an original eight-page copy of the Townshend Acts from June 29, 1767.
It’s easy to forget that tariffs have been around since before there was a United States. In 1767, the British Empire, heavy with debt and losing control of its colonies, taxed imports like glass, lead, tea, and paper—not for economics, but to tighten its grip. Sound familiar?
The result wasn’t just taxation—it was agitation. Those duties sparked boycotts and protests, eventually leading to the Boston Massacre in 1770. Tariffs can start with revenue but end with revolution. Nine years later, the colonies became the United States.
📜 Paper: The First Medium of Control
Long before chips and cloud storage, paper was the original data infrastructure. It carried laws, contracts, news, and dissent. Taxing it was a way to throttle ideas.
The Townshend Acts listed dozens of paper types by name and rate. This wasn’t just about money—it was about controlling communication itself. That friction led to unrest and, eventually, revolution. Ideas want to move. Tariffs block the lanes.
💻 Chips: The New Paper
Fast-forward to today. Semiconductors have replaced paper as the core medium of modern power. When chips don’t ship, missiles don’t launch, servers don’t compute, and apps go dark.
The U.S. and China both know this. Tariff wars in the 2020s aren’t about fair trade—they’re about technological sovereignty and control over critical infrastructure.
Just as Britain tried to keep control by taxing critical goods, the U.S. now uses tariffs on Chinese semiconductors, EVs, and solar tech to maintain its edge. On the surface, it’s policy. Beneath it, it’s fear.
📈 For Investors: Watch the Narrative, Not the Math
This isn’t just policy noise—it’s narrative risk. Tariffs are smoke signals showing where power struggles are most intense and where markets could pivot.
Globalization has created immense wealth, lifting billions out of poverty. But it also brought dependence. We’ve reached a moment of realizing that paradise came with a cost: loss of control.
The question isn’t whether tariffs “work”—it’s whether they delay the inevitable or accelerate the transition. Back then, they taxed parchment. Today, they tax processors. The story is the same: control the medium, control the message.
They Taxed Paper. We Tax Silicon.
The Medium Changes, the Instinct for Control Doesn’t.
By Gregory Lai, Co-Chief Investment Officer
In recent weeks, I sat through a few town halls where financial leaders and academics shared their views. At one UC Irvine event, what stood out wasn’t a forecast—but a prop: an original eight-page copy of the Townshend Acts from June 29, 1767.
It’s easy to forget that tariffs have been around since before there was a United States. In 1767, the British Empire, heavy with debt and losing control of its colonies, taxed imports like glass, lead, tea, and paper—not for economics, but to tighten its grip. Sound familiar?
The result wasn’t just taxation—it was agitation. Those duties sparked boycotts and protests, eventually leading to the Boston Massacre in 1770. Tariffs can start with revenue but end with revolution. Nine years later, the colonies became the United States.
📜 Paper: The First Medium of Control
Long before chips and cloud storage, paper was the original data infrastructure. It carried laws, contracts, news, and dissent. Taxing it was a way to throttle ideas.
The Townshend Acts listed dozens of paper types by name and rate. This wasn’t just about money—it was about controlling communication itself. That friction led to unrest and, eventually, revolution. Ideas want to move. Tariffs block the lanes.
💻 Chips: The New Paper
Fast-forward to today. Semiconductors have replaced paper as the core medium of modern power. When chips don’t ship, missiles don’t launch, servers don’t compute, and apps go dark.
The U.S. and China both know this. Tariff wars in the 2020s aren’t about fair trade—they’re about technological sovereignty and control over critical infrastructure.
Just as Britain tried to keep control by taxing critical goods, the U.S. now uses tariffs on Chinese semiconductors, EVs, and solar tech to maintain its edge. On the surface, it’s policy. Beneath it, it’s fear.
📈 For Investors: Watch the Narrative, Not the Math
This isn’t just policy noise—it’s narrative risk. Tariffs are smoke signals showing where power struggles are most intense and where markets could pivot.
Globalization has created immense wealth, lifting billions out of poverty. But it also brought dependence. We’ve reached a moment of realizing that paradise came with a cost: loss of control.
The question isn’t whether tariffs “work”—it’s whether they delay the inevitable or accelerate the transition. Back then, they taxed parchment. Today, they tax processors. The story is the same: control the medium, control the message.