I've been scratching my head over this one; I know Matthews imports some Chinese tubes... my theory at this point is that he's got a contact in China that is importing the tubes to China then exporting them to him- thus the 35% increase...
A few years back some oligarchs were trying to shut down the Sovtek plant and so a concentrated international protest occurred that included letters from such people as Neil Young, since if the tube plant were bulldozed that would threaten the music industry worldwide. That is still the case. So my alternate explanation is that Matthews went to the State Department to seek an expectation which was granted. Either way I worry that some of the monies is funding Putin's insanity. Its one thing to find out that is the case after the fact, its quite another to go into that knowing full well...
