SPEAKER_02 0:00

Okay, guys, welcome back to another episode of the Is It Legit Podcast. Uh today uh we're gonna talk about how the Strait of Hormuz is closed again. Uh Peter, have you heard about this?

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Yeah, I a lot of people don't realize this, but it is, I mean, it's a big deal, and the Hormuz got closed again because Iran has been attacking ships near and on the Hormuz. Um, the Iran deal or the memorandum of understanding is now um it's completely dead, and the ceasefire is over, and now we're back in full escalation war.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Well, what's supposed to have happened is according to the memorandum back in June, both sides, the US and Iran, decided to stop, uh put a ceasefire for 60 days to start talking about how they can come out of this peacefully, how they can start the nuclear you know de-escalation and all of these things that were really positive looking. Uh, and then a series of events just happened in the last 48 hours that completely overturned this. Um, from what I can tell, the controversy right now is who really started it first. Um, so just a couple of things. According to Iran, and I want to get your thoughts on this, according to Iran, um, because Israel was continuing to attack um you know different places in the in the Middle East, including Lebanon, the I the Iranian government thought, well, because you're supporting uh Israel, you're indirectly, you know, violating this agreement. Um what do you what are your thoughts about that? Do you think they have a valid claim?

SPEAKER_01 1:53

I mean, I have heard this before. Um, and this is why Israel, I don't know if you've realized this, but Israel now has uh it's a lot more uh their uh ratings have gone down significantly. We all thought that Israel was you know the chosen nation and this and that, and you know, we were all for support for Israel, but lately uh they've actually become um quite notorious for uh their continued acts of war. What they're saying is uh that Israel wants to their whole purpose actually is to use the claim is that they're using the um potential uh a terrorism and uh having nuclear weapons in order to expand Israel and take over more regions. And so they're yeah, they're they're they're really um acting upon that. And of course, Israel is oh sorry, uh the US is one of the most uh supportive nations for Israel. And the other thing is that uh they are the the claim is that Israel actually has their hands in a lot of American lead, like in a lot of American leaders right now, a lot of politicians. Uh that that is a conspiracy, I guess you would say that they they're even saying, I'm gonna get a little crazy, but they're even saying that they were involved with Epstein, and they used Epstein to essentially create dirt on a lot of these politicians so they can control the politicians. I guarantee this stuff happens. Now, is that claim actually true? Did Israel actually use Epstein to be able to control our politicians? We don't know. But right now, the big conspiracy and claim is that uh Israel has a huge hand in our government. Um, and yeah, they're they're they're continuing to to act in war to expand their territories, is what they're saying.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Yeah, what what some people what a lot of people may not realize is Israel's thought or kind of their paradigm is that they deserve that area, that region, right? It was it was God given, essentially. And you know, um, I don't know if you know anything about the Bible. It's just a joke. I don't know if you know about the Bible, but uh, you know, I mean this goes all the way back uh to what was it, the is it Abraham and was it the two sons of of is it Abraham and what's the other one? Isaac. Isaac. So I mean this goes back all the way um because I mean literally goes back to this this is this history of who owns this region and who is entitled to this region, all I'm saying is it goes all the way back, centuries and centuries, right? The Iranian uh I'm sorry, the Israeli government directly funds our politicians. That's a fact, right? Our politicians, our politicians, uh APEC, right? So we they they have lobbies that fund our politicians and Mossad, which is like their you know Israel's CIA, basically. It is well known that they are like the best or one of the best, you know, counter-terrorist organizations. What are they looking at? I mean, what are they influencing? You know, who knows? Um after that, you know, position where Israel said, Oh, I'm sorry, uh uh Iran said, because the US is still supporting Israel, that's a violation. Then on June 25th, uh the Singapore flag container ship Ever Lovely was struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz. And a lot of people are saying that Iran was basically responsible. And that I believe was the first direct attack. Um that may have caused the the ceasefire to you know to be to be over. So what are your thoughts on that, Peter?

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Yeah, I don't know who fired first. I don't know who is actually at fault first. I think both sides are have their own narratives that they're uh like they're producing out to uh their own you know news media outlets. Um but you know, like for example, when uh the when the the tanker, well one of the tankers was um taken down, um apparently they they gave repeated war warnings. Uh it's a Qatari tanker, I think. Um they gave repeated warnings until they finally, you know, uh took them down. And uh it's because they vi they were saying that, you know, the reasoning is that they um the strait is under the Iranian control. Um, you know, they have to follow strict certain like uh methods and ways uh to go through the strait and whatnot. Um Iran sorry, they must follow the Iran-approved routes and get permission, but the ships ignore the warnings, um, or use US-backed Omani route. Uh and so they're seen as like a uh you know an ally with the enemy. And so uh all this started to escalate, and then there's uh uh what eventually ended up happening is there were attacks, right? So there were attacks um on uh on US bases, US military bases in Kuwait and uh by by rant by rain. Uh and then the US then very recently as of July uh 8th or 9th, it was very recent, uh, they started uh attacking doing a new wave of like a massive new wave of uh strikes around 90 military targets across the country. So that's pretty significant. So we're in full escalation, full war right now, uh, due to this, um, these little things that happened. And now the Strait of Hormuz is obviously closed, which is a big deal for us because and I I that's one thing I want to emphasize. The reason why we're even talking about this, because you may not necessarily care about the war, but you're going to care about your family's pockets, which it's going to affect here very soon. And I I I I do want to expand upon that. But do you have anything else?

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Uh no, no, I think we should just talk about uh or reiterate why the closing of the strait is important. Uh so for those of us who don't know, the Strait of Hormuz uh is this very, very narrow waterway, and it's so narrow that you could actually not us, but a champion swimmer, a human, uh could actually swim across it. So theoretically, and that's a very, very narrow passage. It carries 20% of the world's oil and a huge chunk of natural gas. I mean, one fifth of the entire world's I think there's like 200 plus countries in the world, one fifth of that goes through the Strait of Hormuz. Um, also, other things that you may not realize, we just mentioned gas, uh fertilizer.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

People don't really realize that. They don't realize how important fertilizer is.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

It apparently fertilizer, and I just learned this too, it it directly is affected or produced or helped produce because of the nitrogen in the fertilizer that helps things grow, actually comes from refineries. So that night I don't know how it works, but the nitrogen that gets off put by the process, I guess, goes into the fertilizer, and then that gets shipped out, and that directly affects crops, you know, soils, obviously. And let alone all of those uh countries in the Gulf Coast. Again, look it up on a map, right? Straight of four moves, it's like this tiny. There's food, there's water. Uh, all of those countries are basically desert countries. So all of the water, all of the food that's going back and forth, and the oil is being you know severely restricted. So, Peter, what do you see this actually affecting us? Um, and how is it going to negatively impact our lives?

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Yeah, I mean, I think first of all, we have to remember that even though things are so bad out here and we're we're suffering from inflation, I mean, we we talk about money a lot on this podcast. Uh, it it it's it's pretty bad for a lot of people, but it's way worse. That's the other factor, is it's way worse in other countries. Uh, places like Korea or Japan, or you just recently went to Vietnam, the Philippines. I mean, oil is such a huge factor for them, and it really affects everyone. And so I think a lot of other places are going to be severely affected, which uh by by by this uh war and the Strait of Hormuz being closed. Now, most of our listeners are from America, right? And so, how is this going to affect affect the the average American? So, well, oil prices are kind of like people think it's just oil prices, uh, which does suck, right? It's like we all use gas, right? Unless you have a Tesla and whatnot, and good for you if you have an electric car. But there's a lot of us who are still on, you know, gas cars, right? Like we're both on gas cars. And I don't know about how it is for other places. I heard here we're a lot higher, but we uh our gas prices were it's in the fives right now, right? The mid-fives, would you say? Um yeah, it can be. But then there's uh, you know, at one point it was like hitting almost sixes, yeah, right. Uh, and then the question is, is it could actually very well hit that number again, the sixes. And for the average person who, you know, let's just say you uh you have like a truck, I mean, your gas prices are going significantly higher, right? And how often do you fill up gas? Some people once every week, right? Twice a week. And so people are already squeezed financially. So anyway, there's the oil aspect, but the other aspect, the the the our necessities, right? Our food, we got to eat food, right? And so our families eat food, grocery prices. We said in previous podcasts that it's so hard to stick with our grocery budget, like it's just so hard. Meat is just so expensive, and it's it's hard to even stick to it. Now, if our what happens if our grocery prices go up again, let's just say 20, 30 percent, 40, right? What happens? Right? For for people like us who who actually you know make decent money, it's like, yeah, we're gonna survive. I'm sure we're gonna survive. It does mean we're gonna have to eat less meat and et cetera, et cetera. But for other people who are barely surviving, this is really gonna put them under. Um, there's other things, airfare uh and travel. Okay, I get it, right? Airfare and travel are kind of like you know, luxury items, but um it does affect, you know, transportation of things like like like trucks who transport goods, right? Things from Amazon, diapers, things that we need, right? Um, whatever else that you that we buy all the time. So I think it's gonna affect uh if if this doesn't get uh resolved soon, uh, this will affect everything, all of our prices and inflation. And the last thing I'm gonna say is because I had to I had to do a little bit of research, is it's affecting our jobs. It's like, okay, how how is this? How is the war going to affect our jobs? Well, here's how, because right now, the the chairman of the federal government, you know, the the the Fed chair, they're not able to lower the the the federal fund rate because we have high inflation. Inflation caused by a lot of this by the war, right? Because the war straight of war moves, oil prices are going going up, they're elevated. We can't, I mean, if we if we lower rates now, we're basically just putting gasoline on a fire to inflation. That's gonna ruin our country. So we can't do that. Um, but but the fact of the matter is, is the reason why we're not lowering the federal fund rate is because this war and oil prices are high. Now, if we do lower the federal fund rate, then companies will start wanting to expand. They're gonna want to buy more equipment, they're gonna they could do more and they can hire more employees. So I think this directly affects employment as well for those people who are afraid of AI and it's gonna take over their jobs or the the people who have already been laid off. Uh, this will affect really everything and really our economy. So I that's why I think it's very important. This this topic is important.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Yeah, I think I think those are great points. Uh, some other things to consider is that you know, uh the statistic is that most Americans, you know, have less than what is it, $2,000 in their savings accounts. Uh a thousand. I mean, cut that by 50%. So all these little things, when they are uh you know, when you consider a family who lives paycheck to paycheck and has less than a thousand in in their savings, these things can add up to bills not being paid, and then it's a domino effect, right? When something falls, small, then medium, then big, it becomes your groceries, then your gas, then your mortgage payment. And there's child care to consider. I mean, there's a lot going on for the average American that's very concerning. And another thing that people may not realize about inflation is that when you lower inflation, it sounds good, right? And that's what we're all hoping for. But lowering inflation just means that the price at which things go up slows down. It doesn't necessarily mean prices are coming back down.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

So it's like when you have gas prices here or grocery bills here, or this and that. Um, I mean, you talked about Teslas. I mean, you need tankers, you need buses to transport these cars, to transport batteries to be made or mined. There's all these things that are, you know, jets to tankers to trucks. It's all run off of jet fuel, diesel fuel, etc. etc. So even food. I mean, we just talked about uh uh food dyes last week. Guess what a lot of food dyes are made of, even though they're going, you know, they're being banned by 2027, is all petroleum, right? Makeup products. I mean, I could go on and on and on. So it it's uh it's uh it's not good news. Um, do you have anything else to add on what is happening?

SPEAKER_01 16:27

I mean, not really. We can go into like I've done research on you know what he said, she said, because Iran has a whole narrative, right? Like who attacked first, that well, they violated the agreement, and the America and by you know, the Iran people like Trump. I don't know if you heard some of his quotes. I was watching uh um one of uh his interviews, and he was basically saying these guys are like crazy people, right? They're crazy people, they keep violating the agreement, they say they're not gonna do this, and then they they they violate it, and um, so there's just this whole like narrative that you know both sides are saying. Um, but I I just I don't know if it's gonna be resolved. Like, even see this now, unfortunately, because you know, we have something like the MOU, like the memorandum of understanding that was violated, it's like, okay, so even though we have an agreement, is this war really going to end? And I think that's what the markets, right? The stock market has responded to, where it's like, even though they have an agreement, the stock market's not like skyrocketing up. And the reason why is because there's a there's a lack of trust now, right? Like, what agreement will we have? And will we even be able to trust that agreement? Because what if someone violates that agreement like it's happened in the past three to five times? That's why no one trusts what's gonna, you know, this that this war is gonna end. And so what happens when there's a prolonged war and the strait is closed and the whole world is suffering? I mean, how bad will it get? I mean, it can get very bad. That that's the thing. People we're in our little bubble. It's already bad. I I get it. Like I get you guys are you know struggling financially. I get it, okay? But it can get so much worse, and that day that it becomes that much worse, that's where you know I feel like people are gonna take this seriously. But I I think we're headed there, to be honest. I'm not being negative. I I I just don't see how we're gonna be able to, I think this is gonna be a long, long war. Um, and that's gonna really, really suck for a lot of people. It's gonna affect housing, right? Lack of housing, it's gonna affect everything to produce anything here in America. So, and I oh sorry, last thing I will say is that the reason why we're not seeing gas prices skyrocket right now is because we were able to, I mean, we did things like we were able to uh sneak away like 20 20 million barrels of oil, right? Um, which kind of like helped lower the the prices. Um America does have reserves, we have strategic re reserves. Um, and so that's probably going to be uh tamper uh gonna be um touched here. Uh and then we have other means of uh oil, you know, get getting oil as well. So that's why we're not seeing gas prices and everything prices go up uh so immediately.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

Yeah, I think a lot of things that you talked about uh in my mind talk about consumer sentiment, you know, how people feel about everything, basically, and how even in our industry, in the real estate industry, you know, the market is different. There's a lot of thinking a bit more and just making sure that every all the ducks are in a row and counting them again and counting them again, you know, kind of being hesitant to make a move. Uh, and that's kind of the uh the business environment as well. I mean, AI is kind of its own thing, right? But then there's everybody else. You know, we just had dinner last night and we talked about how even healthcare is being squeezed, right? Clinics might be shutting down, uh, doctors are getting laid off, you know. Uh crazy, and which is crazy. I just that doesn't make sense to me, you know. But if you break it down, um this is what's happening today, and it is I'm I'm sad to be honest. I thought that we were going to see some light at the end of the tunnel, but like you said, I don't think it's going to end very quickly. I think we all have to brace, uh, I think we all have to just tighten our pockets. You know, um, I'm on Facebook Marketplace a lot. I'm trying to get deals, I'm trying to maybe sell some things, little things I can help. Um, but yeah, I I think that's my take on the on the situation.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Yeah, you know, if we're talking practical, yeah, we have to, I mean, tightening the belt, you know, the the financial belt is just something everybody everybody needs to do right now. This is not a you know optional thing for people. Like you have to, you have to be tightening the belt. Um, it's not gonna get any better anytime soon. Like you said, inflation, inflation, it's not like you know, we're uh prices are gonna go down per se. Like it's more like the rate of it going up. It's already so high, but it's like it's the rate of it going up is just slowing down. And and that's really sad. And uh it makes things just really tough for the average Americans whose wages have not increased in lockstep with the inflation, and that that's the been the biggest issue. Everyone's feeling it, right? Like everybody is feeling it, besides the you know, the ultra-rich. I could tell you a lot of the middle class, if you can, if you're lucky enough to even be in the middle class, are definitely feeling it. Uh, I know people making good money. You know, we just did a podcast uh saying that you know people are making three to three fifty, right? In Washington state, is still feeling like they have no extra breathing room. And and you might it might sound crazy, but then you break down the numbers, you're like, oh yeah, that's actually true. You you actually don't have much breathing room. So uh I know it's really tough, guys, and it's um, you know, unfortunately, it's just it's there's not a lot we can do about what's going on in the world, but we can control our own budgets, and it does mean that we're probably gonna you're probably gonna have to take a second, third job. If you have a family, if you have like kids, you're gonna have to start a business or you're gonna have to figure out ways to make money because I I think it's gonna get a lot worse. On that note, yeah. Uh thank you guys for watching. Um, you know, we're gonna do we're gonna cover more stuff that really, you know, we're we're here to talk about things that will affect everyday American lives. And this will affect everyday American lives. And so that's what we're talking about. And uh, if you like our content, please hit the like button, please hit the subscribe button. Uh, we will do more content like this, and um, you know, it's good to know. It really is good to know and you know, talk about what we what we can do about it. So, thank you guys for watching, and we'll see you guys on the next episode.