Octavio Blanco (00:20)
This is another episode of Uptown Voices, Black and Blanco edition.

Led Black (00:27)
Yes,

Octavio Blanco (00:28)
Whereas, whereas always

Led Black (00:28)
Yes, sir.

Octavio Blanco (00:29)
I'm joined by my good friend brother from another mother led black. What's up?

Led Black (00:36)
What's the deal, man? What's up octavio man? I got the Dominican team jersey. World Baseball Classic, you know, gotta rep DR always. So super excited about that. And then also I wanna remind everyone, make sure you subscribe, show our channel love, subscribe. We need that love always and forever.

Octavio Blanco (00:41)
world baseball classic that's that's a beautiful thing i see that

Yes, yes, sir, please, please subscribe. It's so important to have our audience members subscribe on YouTube.

You can go to the Uptown Collective YouTube page and subscribe there. That's going to give you all of our Uptown Collective YouTube media and also give you alerts to when we have these shows coming up, which are every Sunday at 10 a.m. and then usually publishing on Tuesday mornings recorded shows. This is a live show. And I see that we are up on

on Instagram. That's great. Hopefully everybody on Instagram show love to our show. And we're at a very important, this is a very important show today. And, you know, we are in the midst of this like incredible new world order that we're living through right now. It's the third week of war.

Oil prices have been skyrocketing. The Strait of Hormuz has been blocked. There's all kinds of rumors swirling that the president of Israel is unalive, that Iran's new leader...

Chris (02:01)
No.

Octavio Blanco (02:10)
Khomeini Jr. is dead. Both countries are denying those rumors. But what's true is that Iran has choked off the Strait of Hormuz, which is about 20 % of all the oil that is produced in the world. We're already seeing things like long lines for gas in China and Vietnam and throughout Asia. That's not good. We're seeing this whole

war play out in a way that's gonna be and is currently hitting us here in our pocketbooks here in Washington Heights.

Led Black (02:44)
Yeah, but you know, I

tell you, I also want to say this is my opinion. even and I agree with everything you're saying, but I still think it's an understatement. This is like the biggest blunder in American history. Trump has led us down. Iranian escalation trap. We are we are stuck. And this is this is not getting better. And I don't think, you know, like yesterday, I got you sent me the text of what next guest is

Please tell the world who our next guest is, because we need to get right on it. We need to be talking to him. let's, who do we have on today?

Octavio Blanco (03:11)
All right. All right. All

right. All right. Gotcha. Gotcha. And I didn't mean to minimize it. I do think this is one of the one of the biggest issues that we're doing. But today we have one of my good friends. Somebody who I've gone back many, many years, a friend of the podcast. name is Chris Lewis. He is an independent oil trader. He's based out in California. So it's an early morning for him. What's up, Chris? How you doing, man?

Chris (03:39)
Hey guys, thanks for having me on the show. It's pretty exciting to be here. Yeah, and I concur what you're saying Octavio and let it's, it's a complete disaster. It's maybe the biggest military blunder ever. It's certainly the not ever. I mean, there were times in the middle ages that were probably worse. ⁓

Led Black (04:01)
But in American history

for sure.

Chris (04:03)
Yeah, yeah,

mean, it's bad. It's bad. Like it's very, very bad. And the reason why I know that is because of how it's affecting what I do, trading crude oil and natural gas futures. And it's

Octavio Blanco (04:14)
Yeah. So tell

us tell us a little bit before you get into all that, like, I want the audience to know who you are. And, you know, and why it's important for us to be speaking to you, because you're an independent, oil, natural gas trader, you make a living off of doing this, this is your business. You're not doing this for a big bank, you're not doing this for ⁓ something like that, you're doing this for yourself. And, and also, you go back many years doing this kind of work, right?

Chris (04:41)
Yeah, I I've

been involved in the energy futures complex since 2002, one way or another. I've had stints on both sides of, well, with different facets of the industry. was on the trading side for a while, then I ended up in the marketing and sales side when I went into the corporate side of the industry. And now I've been back trading futures for a while.

And I got into it. ⁓ actually, my history is I actually have an art degree. But my family was in the business. And when I got married, I needed to make a living. Like I couldn't be, I didn't want to be a starving artist anymore. So I went and I learned about this business. And oddly enough, I really loved it. That's probably what I should have been doing from the beginning. ⁓

Octavio Blanco (05:29)
Hahaha.

Chris (05:32)
But now, just to bring it back full circle, I make a living through because of price volatility. Like that's what makes money for me. But because of that, I have to be as much of an expert as I can be in understanding what moves prices, whether it's analyzing a chart or analyzing the fundamentals of

fundamentals being, know, what's an inventory, which countries are doing what, which companies are doing what, that also move prices.

Octavio Blanco (06:05)
So we were discussing it a little bit, but yes, Chris, like this is probably the biggest military blunder.

But tell us, like, why? Why is it that? Why is it that?

Chris (06:17)
Yeah. Well,

there's, I mean, there's no plan. There's no exit strategy. I mean, aside from the fact that it's completely convoluted as to what, why we're doing this to begin with as a nation. mean, the, the, reasoning for, for starting this is, I mean, frankly, it looks like Israel is pulling the strings of the American military for their own, excuse me, for their own advantage, their own gain.

you know, poking big brother and antagonizing us into striking Iran. But the real blunder is that nobody thought that Iran, no one realized in this administration, although everybody else on the planet, including Wall Street and, you know, New knows that Iran is a formidable military force. It's not Venezuela. It's not even Iraq from the

first and second Gulf Wars, which was, you know, a bit of a paper tiger. know, this is Iran is there, they're entrenched. mean, they've their administration, they're there. They've been around since 1979. They have been preparing for war, frankly, because of their extremist ideology at the top of their of their administration. But they've been preparing for war for, you know, 50 years, 48 years. Like this is what they do.

And they understand that their leverage is control of the Strait of Hormuz. They understand that they're, you they also, here's another interesting thing about Iran militarily, they innovate. They're not just, but you know, they innovate. They have a similar thinking to Israel and to Ukraine with how Ukraine is innovating. Iran has done the same thing in their region. You know, they've taken technology from around the world. You know, they build $10,000 drones that, you know, we,

Our air to surface missiles are millions a piece. mean, it's just, you know, they're able to do this. They're able to keep the strait closed. And that's the blunder. The blunder is not like, how do you not know that that is at the very least a huge risk? And this is 20%. And it's not just the oil. mean, certainly it's 20 % of oil and distillates, distillates being gasoline, diesel, et cetera, and other petroleum products.

that travel through this area. mean, this is disruption is bigger volume than the embargoes, if anybody remembers from the 70s when OPEC really flexed its muscles and told the world like you can't fuck with us. Right? That's what enabled the Saudi royal family to maintain power. There was no military action in the Middle East from us. I mean, that's what did that.

Led Black (08:42)
Mm-hmm.

Chris (09:01)
This disruption is every bit as bad as that with no end in sight. We don't know what's going to happen. got, we got, you know, NATO countries independently negotiating with Iran to get the, know, being France and Italy to get through the straight. we got Russia sanctions lifted because Trump, I mean, for all we know, he's a fucking asset to that country. and,

You know, they're now, it's the biggest boom for the Russian oil infrastructure in history, right? They're forcing Western Europe, the second wealthiest region on the planet, soon to be first maybe because this idiot is bringing us down economically to a place where, you we'll be third now. Anyway, it's a disaster of epic, epic proportions. The incompetence of this administration is...

I mean, it's just unfathomable. It's hard to wrap your brain around it. It's like, you know, it's frat boy energy running, running the lie, you know, running the wealthiest and most lethal military force on the planet because they're, you know, they're in a dick contest with China. It's just the most insane thing. And because there are people that are, you know, that are transgender, it's the most obscene thing.

Led Black (09:56)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I agree. I think America's in its Kanye era. America's destroying its legacy right before your eyes. And there's a guy, there's a professor, Robert Pape, who's been wargaming this for the last few decades. He not only studies every air power war since World War I, but he also, he's been teaching at the Naval Academy. He creates curriculum.

Chris (10:15)
You know?

Yeah, this is the Kanye era.

Led Black (10:42)
And he was talking about the escalation trap, how America's trapped, right? know, everything they do is gonna, they're gonna be an equal response from Iran. Like you were saying, Iran is not just, Iran is the Persian nation, right? They go back millennia, right? This was the most foolhardy thing that one could think of led again by Israel. Like, I don't know why, at what point do we realize that Israel's not an ally, it's a liability, you know what I mean? And.

And we hear the rumors of Netanyahu dead. Please God, let that be true. But my question to you, right? So, you know, my day job is in Jersey. You know, I'm back and forth to Jersey. And last week when I filled up, it was 2.99, right? On Friday, it was already up to 3.47. You know, where's this headed? Where's this going? Like my understanding is that the prices here in the States, at least, is more because of the futures, like what you work in, right? But we are gonna...

Chris (11:12)
Yeah

Led Black (11:38)
actually hit a wall at some point. Where are we at in that and what do you see as a person with this deep knowledge of this industry?

Chris (11:45)
I mean, basically, it's a sort of a 30 day time cycle, right? So from the pricing that I see to get to the pump takes about 30 days. So I'm seeing, you know, on a daily basis, you know, between three and 10 % up moves in energy products in the futures market, whether it's

Brent crude oil, is the crude oil that's drilled for in the North Sea in Europe. Then there's crude oil, the futures, the WTI contract is based on domestic crude oil here in the United States. But the big story is diesel. Diesel is getting very expensive. Diesel's up 50 % in the last week, two weeks.

⁓ The futures prices of diesel are over four bucks now. You add a dollar on to that. That's the cheapest it'll be right now. mean, diesel could be over the summer, could be nine bucks a gallon, which ends up being a choke point for domestic shipping. mean, everything is in a truck here in this country. So it'll be, it's going to be painful before then, frankly, because

You know, gas stations literally have to raise their prices knowing they know what's coming. You know, they get quotes from the rat, you know, from their distributors, just like anybody else. And they're getting warned. mean, it's just like when the tariffs came, people were getting warned about prices that were going to change for wholesalers. It's the same thing for these guys. So they got to raise prices now so that they can afford to buy oil and gas, know, diesel and gas next month. So they're raising prices now just to make enough money to be able to do that.

And you can't, know, I mean, there are certainly gas stations out there that are going to just be gouging. But most of them are out there saying, if I don't raise my gas prices now, if I don't make money on the relatively inexpensive inventory I have now, I'm not going to be able to buy because they can't afford to buy a year's worth of gas. They can't sign a contract with Exxon or Shell or whatever, whoever the producers are for. You know, they're not like futures. They don't have leverage. They got to go write a check.

Led Black (13:39)
Wow.

Chris (13:52)
for a month, you know, and then they're obligated to that. And if all of a sudden there's like a sharp decline in demand, which will happen if things skyrocket, they can't buy that much gas, like can't predict what their demand is gonna be. So they have to charge these prices. And that's part of the trap that you were talking about. Like there's no way to stop prices from increasing anywhere. And the consumer...

Octavio Blanco (13:52)
Right.

Led Black (13:52)
Bye.

Chris (14:19)
is the wholesaler and the consumer is forced to pay more. There is no like magical thing that's going to make the prices stop.

Octavio Blanco (14:28)
just

for the record, you know, our local gas station here on Broadway led you drive, I don't drive, but I was riding by on the bus yesterday. And the price for a gallon of regular is about $4. And in California, I think it's like $6. So we're already feeling the surge in gas prices in our pocketbooks.

Led Black (14:44)
now.

Chris (14:45)
Yeah, I mean.

Yeah,

that's what I was getting at. That's happening now. The disruption is everywhere. You see the stock market getting hit pretty hard. I think that's just the beginning. Like I said, there's no plan to exit for this. We don't have any idea how this is going to develop with our allies. You got Russia supporting Iran now.

you know, helping them with drones, et cetera. I mean, it's just, it's just crazy. ⁓

Led Black (15:15)
Chris, can

ask you question about that real quick? Like, so I have my 401k, right? What would you recommend to someone with a 401k, like right now? What should they be doing?

Chris (15:25)
⁓ God, I mean, I'm reluctant to even get into that for multiple reasons. One, I'm not a financial advisor. So I, you know, I have to say no matter what I say, everybody that's listening to this that has any interest in this and taking advantage of a situation like this and or protecting their 401k, please go talk to a professional, your financial advisor, do your own research also, because they're even a even a run of the mill financial advisor isn't

Led Black (15:32)
Mm-hmm.

Chris (15:54)
This is unprecedented. The events that are happening right now, people aren't going to be able to predict very well, other than it's going to be putting pressure on stock market prices and on the downside and upside on commodities and other daily items are going to go up just in general, everything from steel to eggs and stuff, which are going to continue to go up. So having said that,

The likelihood is it's more likely that oil is going to go higher over the next few weeks and months than it's going to go down. The best way to take advantage of that is with an ETF. If people are familiar with an exchange traded fund, which is what an ETF is, it's the lowest barrier of entry. It's the least expensive thing to do and also has the least price volatility. Cause you can lose everything. Yeah.

Led Black (16:41)
ETF.

Chris (16:44)
From a stock perspective with a 401k, mean, honestly, in my opinion, unless you're a reasonably sophisticated, even amateur trader, you can't do anything. You know, your Vanguard 401k, like if you're, you know, if you if you're a worker at a large corporation and you have a 401k, it's not like you're going to get on the phone with your Vanguard or Fidelity 401k manager and be like,

Hey, I need you to buy some puts in the S &P to hedge my 401k position. They're going to, or your audience, even understand what I just said. Yeah, like that's what I mean. Like there's, there, this is again, part of how horrible this is. just, just from a basic sort of transfer of wealth, the way this country has developed since Reagan, right?

Led Black (17:18)
Ha

Octavio Blanco (17:19)
puts hedge right like that's like Chinese.

Led Black (17:20)
Yeah, yeah.

Chris (17:35)
with this neoliberal sort of trickle-down economics thing, which every president, whether you're Democrat, Republican, has been guilty of since Reagan because of how much the wealth class loved that guy. And what I mean by that is, is that there's no pensions anymore. Those don't exist, right? There's no real security. Anybody that is in corporate America is forced to be in a 401k. There is no alternative.

Led Black (18:02)
Mm.

Chris (18:03)
Like you can't finance your own pension. It's very difficult to do that. If you're not involved in a 401k, if you're not in the market, there is no other retirement plan for you. Now you can have less whiskey ⁓ 401k, more whiskey for like that, but we're all forced to be in it. So it's really like, hold on to your nuts and wait for it to end is the kind of

Octavio Blanco (18:13)
But yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, because

there's another there's another aspect of this that we haven't quite touched on yet is, I mean, first of all, there's, there's, there's different risks in just any, in any situation, right? Like, we talked about ETFs. And those are exchange traded funds. Those are baskets that they those are a group that's our banks or traders that that that track

certain things. So you could have an ETF that tracks oil that's called Brent crude, that's the benchmark oil in the world. But you could also have an ETF that tracks like nuclear companies and stocks. And those are generally a basket of companies. And those are generally thought to be safe, right? But still with still with with with with risk, and then you've got futures, and then you've got

options. Options, think are the most risky things. So if you're even considering getting into an option, right, you have to think about what that is, because you could end up losing more than you invest when you do an option. And, and then there's futures, futures are also extremely risky. But the biggest risk of all is President Trump and his administration, right? He could

Chris (19:44)
Yeah,

mean, if I could just jump in here. Yeah, 100 % right. Because the headline risk, right, meaning like news headlines is insane. Like we saw, we watched the energy secretary put out a tweet saying that the Navy was escorting, started to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz. It was a complete fabrication. It was on purpose. It was a PR stunt, It dropped, it was their attempt to drop the price of oil.

Octavio Blanco (19:48)
Yeah.

Led Black (20:02)
Bye.

Chris (20:11)
long enough, I mean, it literally lasted a couple days. And that headline risk is devastating, right? And you have to watch out for that. I mean, they're willing to say anything. I mean, Trump is out there saying the war is won, it's over, we've devastated everything. Then you literally have...

You know, other news outlets, know, and Reuters, AP, CNN, like major news outlet thing, like literally pointing out that the world is laughing at him because everybody knows that the Iranian military, although, although, you know, not that, not undamaged, but they're operational. The death, death of the Ayatollah and all of those leaders literally did zero to disrupt the leadership structure in Iran.

They're running just fine. Why? Because they got a deep bench. Because they're not Venezuela. They have enough oil capital to defend themselves.

Octavio Blanco (21:09)
So that's

just to say that when you are, like I had been considering, maybe this is a good opportunity to buy some kind of oil stocks or an ETF or get into maybe options or futures. But the truth of the matter is that even though like, because of what's happening in the world,

oil prices are expected to keep rising. They're like over $100 a barrel, I think right now.

Chris (21:41)
Well, are brands around 100 and WTI is in the mid 90s. to...

Octavio Blanco (21:45)
Yeah,

But the

reality is that no matter what the real world is saying, this administration will say anything to manipulate the markets. And so it's very, very dangerous to get into. So like you were saying, hold on to your nuts because we just need to ride this out because everything that seems to be coming out of the administration is a lie.

Chris (22:00)
Anything. I mean, that's the only-

Yeah, I mean, it's just so evident in just even their own admissions, right? You have Catherine Levitt saying, and here's the thing, like Wall Street is smart. They may be predatory, piranha, know, we, I'll say I'll include, I'm Wall Street, right? Not everybody is that way on Wall Street either, but Wall Street is smart. Why? Because no one fucks around with their money.

Right? People don't do things whimsically, right? This is why Donald Trump is an eight-time bankrupt loser, right? Because that's how he does business, and it fails every time. So on Wall Street, when you have Catherine Levitt, the press secretary, coming out and saying Trump had a feeling that Iran was going to attack the United States as an excuse for why we have now spent 14 billion with no end in sight.

Led Black (22:58)
Mm-hmm.

Chris (23:07)
Forget about the human lives lost. can't, look, I'm sorry. You know, I know people in this country don't think Iranian lives or Persian lives are worth anything, but we have no idea how many thousands of people we've killed already. ⁓

Octavio Blanco (23:20)
Well, apparently, to

the Iranians at the UN, 1,348 Iranian civilians have been killed. That doesn't include military. And according to Lebanese authorities, 826 people have died in Lebanon. So that's over 2,000 civilians. Civilians. So yeah.

Chris (23:33)
Military.

mother.

Led Black (23:45)
you

Chris (23:46)
Yeah, right.

Led Black (23:48)
Chris,

I want to ask you question because one of the things I find so hard about this war is that there's hardly, it's very hard to get information on what's really happening on the ground, right? We see, you know, we see the Tehran being, you know, we see the black oil because attacking of, you know, of oil infrastructure.

but we don't see the damage in Israel, we don't see a lot of damage in the GCC. How do you do your job when there's such a dearth of information?

Chris (24:19)
I mean, I from, I mean, you're relegated to blogs and other traders in the industry. I I talk to people, not that I have inside info or I don't, but I have friends in the industry. And also I try to not go, like I read the AP, I read Reuters, the Wall Street Journal is as intellectually honest as they can be when it comes to this, believe it or not.

even though they're a Rupert Murdoch-owned entity. I don't trust domestic media here anymore. Even MS Now. That's not to say that they're... And I applaud them for being politically motivated. We need to have this voice that is tilted away from this government.

It's all, you everyone has their slant. in order to get it, so in, order to get like actual data, I mean, now, I mean, I am now, I have, I use a couple of large language models to scrape information and, and, scour, different data sources, new sites, government sites from not here, like,

Led Black (25:10)
I agree, I agree.

Chris (25:30)
the International Energy Association. We're looking, I'm looking at constantly. There's a couple of blogs and stuff that I look at also. But it's not easy. for a guy like me who has limited information, I'm not, you know, it's not like I'm at VTOL moving oil around the world in ships.

VTOL is a big energy trading firm, physical trading, they trade physical products. I am at the mercy of pricing. Most of my information comes from prices. So when I'm looking at crude prices and I'm watching it go up, that's the insight.

a crude spike in prices will vent then you know a couple of hours later I'll see that the the island car I can't pronounce the name of the island that was bombed on yeah right

Led Black (26:20)
card. Yeah, like, yeah, I don't know how pronounce

exactly. But yeah, K-H-A-R-G. Yeah.

Chris (26:25)
Yeah, yeah. like, and then I'll start looking in the news for what's moving the price in terms of that, because it's not your typical fundamentals. Like it has nothing to do with what's in inventory anymore. Public demand doesn't make a difference anymore. This is about, you know, this is much bigger than that. Like you have to have, you know, a 30,000 foot view, but that ends up making it difficult to try to figure out short term, shorter term price fluctuations.

you know, even day to day, like we were saying.

Led Black (26:54)
So

from your perch, right, and your like deep knowledge of the subject, and I know you don't predict the future, but you kind of have to try, where are we headed with this? Where are we going two weeks, a month from now, by the summer?

Chris (27:09)
I mean.

I think that, I mean, to be honest, I think that there's no way but up. There's, you know, the headline risk of large dips in prices is real, which is why I tell people don't even look at the futures market if you're trying to take advantage of this. understand, you know, it's still a crap game. Like you still, you know, take a certain dollar amount that you're willing to lose and try to take advantage.

that way with an ETF, for example. But I mean, there's really no way but up from here. There's just no way. mean, every day the straight is closed. Every day people's oil production in the Middle East is diminished or off, in fact, because there's no place to move the oil to. The storage facilities are closed. They're full, which isn't a good thing. That's because oil isn't moving out of them.

and they can't continue to fill them. and that disruption, mean, even if the straight opens tomorrow, we're gonna see a short-term, refineries can't get oil. So we're gonna see a short-term elevation in prices. And every day that it continues, and again, there's no exit strategy.

you know, regime change will take boots on the ground, which I don't know who will if that happens, we're at $200 oil for a sustained period of time. If that

Led Black (28:34)
And

my last question, Octavio. So what does that do to an economy like ours or poor countries? What is that gonna do to us?

Chris (28:43)
I mean, it's hard to say. mean, it's, again, it's so much pressure on the economy. really what it does is, right, so from just in the most simple way, right, rising fuel prices are one of the largest costs to an everyday consumer around the world, whether you're in a very, I mean, poor countries, you're poor already. So

It's devastating, right? It's lack of food. It's chaos. It's warlords. It's craziness. It's apocalyptic, right? No joke, right? You have no fiat currency to go get anything. So people will just hoard and take things by force. That's poor, poor countries. In this country, it's all based... The entire economy is on the shoulders of

the the the From poor people to the middle class in this country because we're the largest consumer block We buy all the bullshit, you know, we buy all the all the crappy stuff at Walmart and you know the small things That's what so when those prices go up Due to due to shipping costs, you know more tariff pressure, which that's the only economic policy This fucking idiot knows how to use which is a joke He's using them badly and wrongly to begin with and then in addition to that

Rising fuel costs makes everything go up everything because it's supply chain. It's you know, it's trucks. It's Rail, it's air air freight, know jet fuel is gonna is there was reports of $250 gallon jet fuel ⁓ in Taiwan like just insane I mean think of what that means That's like you can't use that if you're trying to get goods by air from one place to another It's impossible, right? So jet fuel is gonna go through the roof

diesel for shipping through the roof, know, bunker fuel, which is what fuels these ships. All of these things, it's so inflationary, it's insane. That ends up putting a ton of pressure on, in America, on the consumer. So consumer spending can go to zero, right? When that happens, that cascades to big box stores, retailers, they're not selling anything, right? So they got to lay people off.

So when you're laying people off to protect your share price, which you have to do fiduciarily, like if you're a CEO By law you have to do that. You have to protect your shareholders, right? It's a bit fucked up, but that is like you have to do that. That is your job So you start laying people off to do that, but then that puts more pressure On on the economy in general because nobody's spending anything who can spend anything? And when there's no spending

people aren't supporting the economy that way. I mean, that's what got us into the Great Depression. That's what got us into the Great Recession in 2008. And this supply, this disruption in oil, can't understate, I'm sorry, I can't overstate how much pressure it's going to put on the consumer, the global consumer. It's not just us.

It's bad. mean, on the bell curve of likelihood, the fact that we're even having this conversation and that that is in the realm of possibility is insane. But it is. And every day that these conflicts increase and they start to escalate and our allies walk away from us and they independently negotiate, the world could isolate the United States because in the end,

They don't really need us. Markets fill holes, right? Like if our consumers go to hell and prices get cheaper, Africa could benefit from that. Right? Like all of a sudden, they're not part of it. They're not going to be penalized for this. you know, the world can isolate us and maybe rightly should, but I'm sorry, I'm getting a little ahead of it. It's terrible for the American consumer. It's horrible for us. And, and,

Led Black (32:25)
Mm-hmm.

Chris (32:38)
It's gonna it's gonna hit us. It will start to hit us hard and the economy is not in great shape. We have horrible job numbers. You can't trust the numbers coming out of the coming out of the White House. Steve Besson is the biggest, you know, the Treasury Secretary. He is the biggest hypocrite. He might be one of the worst guys in the administration. He's first of all, he's a traitor to the LBGTQ community. He's gay. He's gay. He's a

Led Black (32:53)
Yeah.

Yep, yep.

Chris (33:04)
He's a fucking Uncle Tom if there's such a thing for gay people. I mean, he's just a disgusting human being. He lies like crazy. He's completely out of touch, right? So you got this guy in there trying to tell people, don't worry. the job market is terrible. Just anecdotally, go walk around your neighborhoods. You're going to see a bunch of retail stores up for lease. People aren't renewing leases.

You know, obviously, inflation in the the grocery store is not going anywhere. Fuel prices are going to continue to go up. You know, just basic goods, clothing. mean, everything is reliant on the international supply chain infrastructure, which is getting destroyed by what's going on in Iran. And yeah, that affects that affects us all. And yes, it's going to hurt everyone. It's going to end. And our economy here is not set up for it.

We don't innovate anything here anymore. know, the oligarchs here, they're not US citizens. They can operate from anywhere. They just need consumers. They don't care if they're here or someplace else. They're global institutions. It doesn't matter to them. Right? So it's just crazy. And then of course, there is an AI bubble. All of this circular investing is going to catch up to it.

One day, OpenAI is going to stop needing to build infrastructure or they're going to run out of capital because no one understands what the revenue stream of that is yet. We don't know if consumers are going to tolerate advertising in chat GPT when you're saying, hey, I need to understand XYZ. And they're like, hey, great, go get your next burger at McDonald's while I'm giving you this information that you asked for.

You know, who knows if anybody's going to be able to tolerate that. mean, you know, in social media, like it's already disgusting. Like, you know, I go on Facebook and Instagram for like entertainment or whatever, but and to, and to argue with, you know, Trump tards, but besides that, like really offer anything. Like it's just, it's just a constant stream of, Hey, we see that you watch this video on.

Octavio Blanco (35:01)
You

Led Black (35:01)
Hahaha

Chris (35:10)
on making knives a little bit longer than you watch something else. So now we're going to shove knife ads down your throat. mean,

Octavio Blanco (35:16)
Right, you're

gonna see every single knife ad ever. ⁓ Look, we've had you on for 38 minutes. If you wanna stick around, I want you to stick around. You're good to stay with us for the full hour or do you just wanna just be respectful of your time?

Chris (35:19)
Yeah, yeah, and you know.

If...

No, no, I mean, if you guys aren't sick of me, I'm happy to stick around, but if you have other topics to get, you know, if you have other topics to get to, you want to talk about it, it's fine.

Octavio Blanco (35:44)
I mean, there are topics, but I think these are all topics that we can all chat together. Led, what do you what do you think?

Led Black (35:49)
think

we could have a little more of your time, Chris, and then we'll let you go. But I think if it's okay, I would like to keep having this conversation with you because I think, yeah.

Chris (35:57)
Yeah, yeah, let's talk. mean, look,

it's beneficial to me too. Like if nothing else, like I'm so angry at what's happening at I'm so resentful of our country. have become the least educated and stupid, most stupid electorate of first world countries in the world. We are we are so dangerous to the globe now. And I'm so angry and resentful of

Led Black (36:06)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Chris (36:26)
our own populace for allowing this to happen, for being so stupid to be able to, I mean, we grew up with this fucking piece of shit. We grew up with Donald Trump. We know how much of a clown he is. Like I would, would, I would listen to family members in 2000, you know, a decade ago in New Jersey saying like, Hey, this guy's saying some good stuff. And I'm like, what are you saying?

Led Black (36:30)
Quiz. Yeah. Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (36:36)
Hahaha!

Led Black (36:39)
Yeah

Chris (36:52)
This guy is like, he doesn't have the emotional intelligence to like do anything. And now with like the Epstein file, like this whole thing, literally, it could, it's completely possible that this whole thing is a design distraction to not have the Epstein files ruin this guy's presidency because he's a sexual predator. Like it's insane.

Led Black (37:12)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Chris (37:16)
And all of the projection that this administration does, it's like anything that they accuse anyone else of, fake news, the Democrats or this, know, all the sexual, their sexual, you know, LBGTQ, like all of the blame that they put on brown people just in sex, it's all projection. They are the evil Christian nationalist caliphate. Like that's what they are. They are the white, like we, we voted

This country selected a white Christian nationalist organization to lead this country. It's insane. Like, I'm so, I mean, to be honest, like the middle America, Latin American community that, that, that lean towards, towards this guy, I'm so angry at, like, how could you do?

Led Black (38:05)
Chris,

you know that's a reoccurring thing with me and Octavia. I say it all the time as a Latino. I'm so deeply ashamed of my Latino brothers and sisters that voted for this crazy con man and to, ha. It's.

Chris (38:17)
I mean, people of color, my people, Jewish

people, are you kidding me? Like these religious right, Jewish lunatics? These are my people, I'm ashamed. Netanyahu is a... How does Israel, Israel, that was created to protect Jews from another Holocaust is now being led literally by a fascist administration? The hypocrisy of that is so disgusting and so deeply hurts me.

Led Black (38:26)
Yeah.

Chris (38:46)
and embarrasses me that I can't even stand it. It's, and I'm sorry to bring that up about the Latin community, it's brown, it's, you know, there's in the black community too. It's insane.

Led Black (38:50)
Yeah.

No. Yeah, no,

no, this is like I said, this is one of my pet peeves that how, you know, we did this to ourselves in certain ways. Like, you know, why did you think you were different? Like, you know, why did you not think, you know, you were special? They liked you, you know, they're using you. And it's, but I mean, again, I think it's, we're in a really bad place and it's good to commiserate, right? To see that other people are just as angry as we are because...

I think we're losing a lot here. I think this is the end of the American experiment, right? I think that he has hastened the end.

Chris (39:28)
I mean,

I don't know what happens now, even if we get out of this and Trump doesn't become a de facto, I mean, he kind of is a de facto dictator at the moment, but because there isn't a real succession plan and they haven't either suspended or manipulated elections to the point where they can't lose quite yet, as far as we know.

Led Black (39:40)
He is, is, he is already, yeah.

Chris (39:54)
⁓ We don't know what comes next, but it doesn't matter. Like you have this technocratic infrastructure now, right? Where so few people control so much wealth that it almost doesn't matter Democrat, Republican, whatever. you know, one of the geniuses of our forefathers, maybe the biggest genius element of the Constitution is the separation of powers because that was designed to combat against

the unlimited greed and lust of human beings. Like they understood that a human being will go to any length to hoard power. Any length. Like that's what they knew. There are huge, you know, are huge plot holes, if you will, in the Constitution, right? Like the two thirds rule for black people. Just, you know, things that are, you know, that were relevant then that are completely irrelevant now.

But that was the genius of our forefathers, to understand that monarchical rule was the end game to anybody that wanted and seeked power. And that was the purpose for the separation of powers with the equal branches of government, the ultimate genius of them. And to see that being prostituted now and to see a completely impotent Congress not putting the reins on

more executive power than anyone in our country has ever had, which has been, which by the way, has been the nature of the presidency. Certainly in modern times, certainly post-World War II, it has been creeping that way for the last 75 years without a doubt. I mean, without getting into it, it's not hard to look up that sort of structural change. It's pretty well documented. And yeah, it's...

You know, to get down to again to get down to what we were talking about and to bring it back to that. You know, you have these leaders that are now, I mean, leading by the seat of their pants, literally like playing with the lives of 330 million Americans as if they're the chips at the blackjack table. We're all chips, blackjack table, right? Like our pocketbooks, our lives, you know. ⁓

Led Black (41:58)
Right.

Yeah. And I think there was

also there was also this hubris, right? This this this like self professed, like superiority, you know, that they thought that that, know, there was only one person playing war here. And and, know, when the war starts, the other side gets a vote. And, you know, no one can go toe to toe with America and Israel at the same time. But they don't have to go to toe. And I think I think one of the things that we're not talking about in mainstream media is is how

really intelligent, you know, the Iranian defenses, right? Like, you know, they made this war, they made the world, they made the world feel this war, right? Because if the world didn't feel it, the world wouldn't try to end it. And I think, I don't know where we're headed, but I do feel that the whole world is kind of waking up. And I do think this is the Chinese century. Your thoughts?

Chris (42:55)
I think so. I think that this war is going to culminate in a huge diminishment of our position globally as if it wasn't already. mean, our foundation as the shining light on the hill is gone. If there was anything as American exceptionalism, it's gone. It's been gone since 2016. The world is not stupid, as I was saying earlier. Markets fill holes. The world can isolate us. It doesn't need us. We don't have an unlimited

bank book without, you know, without runaway inflation. You can't print money forever. It doesn't work proven by the Biden administration. Frankly, you know, that was their big mistake. Like not telling people that, you know, the COVID stimulus wasn't going to cause inflation and to not pay attention. know, anyway, that's a whole other topic. yeah, this is the Chinese. Yeah, they are rubbing their hands in anticipation of

They're going to take over Taiwan without, without firing a shot, just economic isolation. They're, everyone's going to let them do it. Now they're, they are the manufacturing center of the world. They know it. They're innovating like crazy. I just downloaded a, an operating system that allows you to use their quantum computing for free. I'm starting to learn about that. Like it's, it's, ⁓ it's, you know, like I'm going to start looking at trade models and being able to.

⁓ Have have ⁓ my desktop be able to compute trade strategies faster than the speed of light. I Mean, this is what's going on in China, right? Like ⁓ It's just Yeah, they're they they have positioned themselves in a way that will make they will be the supreme power in the next 30 years I mean we've destroyed ourselves we have destroyed ourselves and

Octavio Blanco (44:28)
Mm-mm.

Chris (44:43)
Yeah, we allowed a buffoon to take control of the strongest economy, the most lethal military in the world, and he is systematically destroying it.

Octavio Blanco (44:44)
And.

And every day that goes on that the Strait of Hormuz is closed, every week that goes on that it's closed, every month, if it stays closed for a month, my understanding is that's it. We're looking at a complete paradigm shift for the global economy. The rules are thrown out the window. So that's one month, okay?

Chris (45:18)
yeah, yeah, no, no, that's 100%.

Octavio Blanco (45:27)
Still though, one day, one week, those are all adding up to this rewriting of the global economy, rewriting of the, you know, who's in power. We're seeing

⁓ Russia winning, winning, winning every day that we have the Strait of Hormuz shut down is a win for Putin and his regime. doesn't, know, China needs oil. So guess who their neighbor is? It's Russia and they can get oil delivered to them by truck, by train, by plane, however they, however they want it.

And this administration, feeling the pressure, has removed the international sanctions on Russia's oil. So now Russia is free to sell their oil and make money. ⁓

Chris (46:26)
mean, Russia is selling

their oil anyway. were selling it at such a huge discount for revenue. Now they don't have to do that because now it's legal. So now they can actually get market pricing and sell more. Just to explain that a little bit more, it's such a boom for them. And Putin, he's quite literally a gangster, right? It's definitely the...

Octavio Blanco (46:37)
Right.

Chris (46:53)
The economic infrastructure in Russia with the oligarchs is a pyramid scheme, basically. Right? They all kick back to Putin. So Putin's personal wealth, mean, no one knows, you know, he's wealthier than Elon Musk by many estimations. Like he's hundreds and hundreds of liquid capital with one of the most highly trained militaries on the planet at his back. And a nuclear arsenal. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's,

Led Black (47:07)
In real wealth, yeah, in real wealth. Yeah.

Mm-hmm, yeah, I agree. He's in the caper seat. Yeah.

Chris (47:23)
It's so scary. the reality is that, yeah, the world order is already shifting in a big way. Our adversaries are winning, maybe have won because, you know, the inevitable future is, Like the longer this, like, Trump may feel forced to put a large force on the ground. And now because we're so diminished and the world sees it, I mean, he's literally begging our allies, including China.

Led Black (47:35)
Yeah.

Yep.

Chris (47:51)
for military help,

Led Black (47:51)
In China, yeah.

Chris (47:54)
for military help in the strait, and no one's doing it. No one is doing it.

Led Black (47:57)
Yeah, you know,

and what's crazy is that this is and it's it's it's a total disaster that you don't see on mainstream media. Right. But but, you know, like we've already spent like 15 billion just in the war effort. That's not talking about the run up to the war. And there's not talking about the possibly trillions and change money that was spent on those bases over 30 years.

This is a disaster that we have never seen. Like, don't think it's, it's unprecedented in that sense.

Chris (48:30)
Yeah, then

you couple that with the standing militia that is DHS, Border Patrol and ICE that's here, right, that will easily turn into a martial law enforcement force. The fascism, the American fascism that's happening now, right, coupled with this global strife, I mean, this is, I mean, it's, you

In my opinion, Alligator Alley is one of many concentration camps. mean, you know, for all intents and purposes, you can put anybody in there. There's no due process anymore. Like this is the degradation of American democracy that we have never, ever seen before. It dwarfs what FDR did in World War II with internment camps for the Japanese. I mean, it's insane. It's insane.

Led Black (49:03)
Bye.

Yeah, it's right.

It's a farce. It's a farce. Because you think about

it, we spent all this money to get rid of Khomeini, to replace him with Khomeini, right? A much more hard line, a much more pro-nuclear weapon. it's crazy. Right, exactly. But with Mooseba, the new leader, you killed his mother, his father, his wife, and his son.

Octavio Blanco (49:28)
Yeah.

Chris (49:36)
I mean, imagine the radicalization that's happening in Iran now.

Yeah. Yeah.

Led Black (49:49)
Right? And

that blood cemented even people that were anti, you know, the mullahs are now all in because it's not attack. It's not an attack on the regime. It's an attack on the Iranian people. And so you waken that great civilization up and they we've lost this. This is lost. It was lost. It was lost when you called him, when you killed him.

Chris (50:02)
mean, all of-

it's lost.

There was a real movement, and the Iranian government, I mean, they killed tens of thousands of protesters. I mean, it's the most disgusting thing ever, but there was a real movement for change there. I mean, they want to model themselves off of Western Europe. Like, that was the political goal. That is the political goal of

the Iranian people for the most part. want, yeah, I they want free market. They want freedom of speech, free press. Like this is what they want. They want the ability to succeed at an individual level. They want sovereignty for themselves. They want to get out from under this global, you know, the pressure of this global, these global sanctions that are on them for supporting terror groups, which is also real.

Led Black (50:37)
was the

Chris (51:01)
But they were doing it. And now, as you pointed out so intelligently, they're completely radical. What's the point now? Now it's like we are, it's more existential. We have to fight. We're not going anywhere. they're gonna give weapons to everybody in that country. It'll be like trying to invade Japan at the end of World War II. And now think about that. You start connecting the dots with that like,

Led Black (51:17)
Right.

Yeah.

Chris (51:27)
Now you start having conversations of, can we drop a nuclear weapon in Iran? Like, can we do that? Can we force regime change by a couple of nukes? Like, is that possible? Like, I mean, this is the fucking insanity that we're dealing with here. These conversations that we're having now that were considered like you just couldn't talk about it. Not even could, like, why do you how do you talk, you know?

Led Black (51:45)
Right.

Octavio Blanco (51:50)
It was impossible. It was not even, yeah.

Chris (51:55)
Like a government-sponsored militia in the street to control for population control. That was... I mean, that doesn't happen here. How could that happen here? And here we are. It's in our face. I mean, just look at what's going on in Vermont. What's happening in Minnesota didn't go away. They haven't killed anybody recently, so it's not in the news. I mean, the travesty of what's happening here is incredible.

I mean, again, I'm so angry. I'm so angry. Like, how dare us destroy what we could have been, what we should be. You know, we should be moving towards more direct democracy. We should be moving. We should be trying to figure out how to use AI to create more of a utopia, to understand how to make each and every one of our lives better.

Led Black (52:31)
Right. Right.

Chris (52:46)
to make our daily lives easier. It's just insane, but it's the lust that people have in this country for extreme power and for hoarding wealth is just insane. Like I don't even understand it. And listen, I'm not even a socialist. Like before 2016, I was right down the middle, like believed in capitalism, like hardcore. Like, yeah. And then I started to read.

And then I'm like, ⁓ wait a minute, the free market and capitalism are not the same thing. Capitalism leads to monarchy, to monopoly only because extreme competition means that you're forced to do better than the next guy. And how do you do that? You consolidate. How do you get rid of competition? You buy them. You buy the competition, right? So now all of a sudden you have companies like CVS that they own, that corporation.

Led Black (53:19)
Mm-hmm.

Chris (53:37)
controls 30 % of pricing for pharmaceuticals because of their infrastructure, because they bought everything. They bought Aetna. They have pharmaceutical manufacturing in China and here. They've invested huge in clinics. They paid doctors. They got hundreds of thousands of people on their payroll. And now all of a sudden, and this is all for the benefit of the shareholders.

Led Black (54:02)
Yeah,

it was funny.

Chris (54:03)
That's what that is, right? So that

all of these institutions within that thing can report higher income, right? They gouge pricing on pharmaceuticals, all so that they can maintain 35 times fucking earnings on the stock market in this unrealistic, I mean, it creates this game. I mean, it's just, it's.

Led Black (54:16)
Yeah.

Yeah, you know,

and it's funny you say that because it's like, it's no longer, you don't bother, you you had Colin Powell going before the, know, before the UN to make his case. We've gone away from that. We had Pete Hexf the other day say, I can't wait for Ellison to take over CNN, right? It's naked and it's blatant, it's flagrant. So they could lie better, right? And that's what happened with CBS.

Chris (54:37)
Yeah, so that they can lie. more state media.

Led Black (54:45)
Yeah, CBS, the great CBS, used to watch CBS Sunday morning news every Sunday. I can't watch it anymore, right? You can't watch their propaganda, their state news. That's what I'm saying. I cannot believe we've gotten this low, this fast.

Chris (54:50)
You can't watch them now. They're a propaganda machine.

I mean.

Octavio Blanco (55:01)
Question

though, mean, we haven't seen besides $4 gallon gasoline, we still haven't seen the impact in our pocketbooks the way that it can be. So what happens when we start to see the impact in our pocketbooks? What's the reaction from this electorate who...

Chris (55:21)
I mean,

time will tell. I've become very pessimistic because I don't see the true, I don't see any real political resistance. Again, talk about the anger, like the Democratic Party are limp with a few exceptions and Congress is now powerless. I mean, it's just powerless. Oh, hi. Hi, grandma. Oh, hi, mom.

Led Black (55:48)
That was my mom, yeah.

Chris (55:50)
So anyway, they become limp and I don't see an end to it. I mean, I don't see the vast wealth controlled by this small group of white men being diminished in any way. And in the end, it's the consumer and we're going to get screwed. There could be, and I believe there will be, will start to be massive layoffs.

You started to see it already in what's ⁓ that company, it's not called Square anymore. What's his name? The Twitter, the old Twitter CEO. just blanking on it.

Octavio Blanco (56:26)
Is it stripe? it something like striper?

Chris (56:28)
No, it's

⁓ what's it called? He laid off half of his workforce and that's due to that's due to ai and also shareholder pressure I can't believe i'm blanking out on this guy's now I got Jack dorsey. ⁓ thank you. jack dorsey, that was my wife from the from the corner there And ⁓ and he laid off half his workforce I think that this is ⁓

Octavio Blanco (56:32)
Yeah, yeah.

Led Black (56:41)
Jack Dorsey,

Tell her thank you.

Chris (56:54)
It's embryonic, but I think that that's what we have, that that's what's coming. But it's also a perfect storm, right? We're going to have revenue, corporate revenue just starting to go down already outside of the AI bubble. And as I mentioned before, that is this spiral circular investing. You have Nvidia loaning money to AI that will then go spend, that will then go buy Nvidia chips, right? So that doesn't help. That's not the consumer.

That's not the engine that runs the economy. That's one company that has a lot of cash or they have they what it really is is that they're able to borrow money from banks who they're short-sighted because all they're looking at is the interest rate and the interest rates that they're going to get in the revenue that they're going to get over 30 years from or however long the financing is. So a lot of this stuff is driven by debt.

But then what happens when there's no ability to pay back the debt or that has to be refinanced, right? And then these companies, the only tool they have is to lay people off. So we're going to start to see the job market get really tight. And then also, I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I have another small business that I'm in. I haven't needed a lawyer for contracts in 18 months. I haven't needed a consultant or, you know, I don't need to, I haven't needed a consultant in 18 months.

I haven't needed middle office anything. don't need I practically don't need an accountant anymore. Like these jobs are going away very, very quickly. the gig, I mean, at what point is everybody forced to be an Uber driver? And then at what point does nobody have the money to take an Uber or to buy door dash or you know, when does that happen? Like, these are the things that are that are coming. So

Led Black (58:34)
Mmm.

Chris (58:40)
You know, I think we are truly headed for an economic situation that we don't really understand. Different than the Great Depression. You know, different. I feel like we're headed like, you know, like where everyone is going to be subjected to national minimum wage. Like that's going to be the job available.

Led Black (58:50)
Yeah.

Yeah.

It's funny, Chris, I had said this before, I think on a previous show, I called it the great impoverishment. Right. I think I think, yeah, like I think we're going to just become as a society on a personal level, just much poorer. And I think that's going to have I don't think we've ever been there before. I think we're going to realize what it is to be a person of a third world country. Like we're with we're headed there. And then we're going to see extreme wealth as well. You know, it's going to be this weird

Chris (59:07)
Yeah!

Led Black (59:27)
⁓ situation.

Chris (59:28)
Well,

I mean, the middle class is being decimated, right? And if you're part of the oligarchy, like you don't necessarily care that much because even with, you know, people still need to buy things, like people still need to transact. Even if, you know, do they care that the million dollar a year earner is now a minimum wage recipient? Maybe not, you know, the middle, you know, the upper middle class.

it's crazy that a million dollar a year earner is not extremely wealthy, that it's the upper middle class, frankly, which is insane. But I mean, that's it's the straight. Yeah, it's it's going away. It's those things are going away. It's it's evident, you know, the trickle down economics, even though people balk at it is in full effect. It doesn't work. All it does. I mean, people talk about

Led Black (59:59)
Mm-hmm.

Chris (1:00:18)
You know people on the right talk about wealth transfer and wealth distribution as a bad thing when in fact they are the biggest recipients of redistribution of wealth ever. Like that's what Ronald Reagan did, right? Increasing the deficit, printing money to pay for huge tax cuts to the wealthiest, leaning on the shoulders of the middle class.

Led Black (1:00:35)
Yep. Yep.

Chris (1:00:48)
And that transferred more and more wealth to the people that were already incredibly wealthy who have tremendous loopholes. you here's a you guys know how like a Mark Zuckerberg is able to have an 8 % next net tax rate. It's because he borrows against his own equity in Facebook for liquidity for dollars and doesn't have to pay it back because the bank just gets the stock when he's ready to liquidate it.

Or he pays the interest on it and that's his 8 % tax rate because the interest on the loan is so little. And he pays that with his income. I mean, it's just the most insane, insane thing, right? If you're making

Octavio Blanco (1:01:25)
Yeah, we,

I, you know, we had probably go on all day long. But I do it. We've been on we've been talking about I think we need to have you back on a regular basis, Chris. If your game if your game to, to wake up early, I think you already wake up early anyways. ⁓ Well,

Chris (1:01:44)
Yeah, I I'm up at I'm up at five to be

in front of my that's another thing real quick like today when tonight when the markets open when the futures market opens at 6 p.m. Tonight Eastern Time That'll be probably the best indication as to what is gonna happen. What's gonna be happening in the war because The people that are gonna be sitting in front of their computers tonight Looking at those pricing they're gonna be privy

Led Black (1:01:58)
Mm.

Chris (1:02:09)
That information trickles down from the in the moment players, the people that have been trading oil all weekend and trying to figure out how to get physical oil to the big oil company. And they are going to be sitting down and the hedge funds, the large hedge funds that are privity to that information, they're going to be moving the market tonight one way or another. And then that will be the biggest indication of what the short term

Led Black (1:02:16)
Mmm.

Chris (1:02:34)
outcome, you know, what the short term prognosis of the war in Iran is based on pricing tonight when the stock market futures open and all the commodities futures markets open tonight. And in fact,

Led Black (1:02:47)
So Chris,

Octavio Blanco (1:02:47)
That's great.

Led Black (1:02:48)
let me ask you a question real quick, because we will end it with that, Chris. So that's a valuable insight. What do you foresee happening today? Is it going to be a bloodbath?

Chris (1:02:51)
Okay.

I

think with the bombing of... Here's the double-edged sword, I'll try to make this quick, of the bombing of the Karg Island, right? The United States is saying that we didn't bomb the infrastructure, we just bombed, you know, was like a warning. But we will take out the infrastructure. If that warning alone, I think, puts oil prices up, you know, between 5 and 15 percent tonight.

Led Black (1:03:12)
The military, yeah, yeah.

Chris (1:03:25)
Because that threat, I mean, we'll see, I could be wrong. know, going to bet on it. That's my job. But because that fear alone, like even though, yes, it might be damaging to Iran, but they still supply, they are a giant oil producer. So pulling that oil off the market just puts more upward support on oil prices. So like, even if that happens, yes, it diminishes Iran, but

Led Black (1:03:25)
Wow.

Right.

Chris (1:03:50)
And even if that for some reason opens up the straight-up Hormuz and that'll be a temporary pressure on oil prices, it still pulls a giant amount of oil off the market and filling that hole will be not so easy. So we'll see a giant spike, you know, and then if they still are able to, if the straight-up Hormuz still remains shut, if they're able to hold that, I mean, I don't know, pick a number.

Octavio Blanco (1:04:17)
Yeah. Chris, before we let you go for our audience, where can people hear your thoughts or see your thoughts? are your socials if you want to share those?

Led Black (1:04:17)
sobering Chris, thank you so much brother

Chris (1:04:30)
I mean, sure. mean, I don't I don't really because I don't want to give financial advice because it it's just I'm not that guy. But I'm on I'm on I think I'm on Instagram. I'm on Crystal Lou. I'm on Facebook more because I'm old. What's my Facebook handle? I think it's Chris. think it's Crystal Lou.

Led Black (1:04:47)
Hahaha

Chris (1:04:55)
Here I'll put it in the chat here. How about that?

Octavio Blanco (1:04:58)
think it's...

Led Black (1:04:59)
Perfect. Yeah. think it's important,

Chris. I think you're an important voice. And also I think because of your vocation, right? You have a unique insight, right? That I think is important. And I think we need as much guidance as we can. We need to be talking about this. We're losing a lot here because of Trump, because of the both parties have led us to where we're at now.

Chris (1:05:16)
No, I mean...

Yeah, yes, for sure. mean, I I I am our democrats are

Octavio Blanco (1:05:23)
And

Chris (1:05:28)
I mean, they are susceptible. They're guilty of the same bullshit. not so controlled by Christian nationalism. So it's not...

Yeah, I'm Christopher Lewis on Facebook. How do I?

Octavio Blanco (1:05:49)
It's okay. We'll put it up. We'll find I'll put it up in the edit when we when we repost this. We'll make sure to get

Chris (1:05:56)
I mean,

I started a substack because I believe that, honestly, the best way out of this for some of us is some kind of soft economic secession of the more liberal minded states or more sane states, California, New York, New England, the West Coast, because I don't see a way out of this other than that, frankly.

But I haven't really published anything. Anyway, whatever you guys want to do, sure. Be happy to talk to people.

Led Black (1:06:27)
Chris, thank you so much, brother. Appreciate it,

Octavio Blanco (1:06:27)
Well, Chris, thank you. Thank you, sir.

Chris (1:06:30)
Yeah.

All right.

Octavio Blanco (1:06:31)
And lead it's 115, it's 1115. We haven't really talked about some local stuff, but I guess we'll get to that later on another show. There's a lot to, there's a lot to, yeah, it was important, but this whole thing sort of blew up our, blew up our, our, what we were going to talk about. I had planned to talk about a bunch of local things, but we'll get back to that.

Led Black (1:06:40)
Yeah, we have, this is an important episode though. This is an important episode.

Octavio Blanco (1:06:57)
in future episodes. We might even want to consider doing like a midweek live if we can think about that and talk about that anyway. Led, anything else you want to say? Sounds like you've got people, sounds like you got people in the house.

Led Black (1:07:04)
Yeah, for sure.

Yeah,

my mom showed up. We're celebrating my oldest daughter's birthday today. So, know, a of bunch of runners. Yeah, yeah. But I thought with my brother, you know, let's keep this going. We rocking out. Spread love is the uptown way, uptown voices. We got some really good things coming in the future, you know, to help the businesses, the community. So we'll talk about that in later episodes. And just stay tuned, keep rocking with us and, you know, spread that uptown love and subscribe and tell your people about it.

Octavio Blanco (1:07:17)
That's great. That's great

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

Yes,

Thank you.

Led Black (1:07:41)
I'll talk to you later.