RAMageddon AI Data Center WAR + Hormuz Blockade Updates | PBD #777

**Patrick Bet-David** (0:30)
I mean, it's a podcast, lots going on. Probably the biggest story to a lot of people here, apparently I'm sitting down talking to all our guys, I'm saying, tell me the biggest story that you're most concerned about. And Humberto says his biggest concern is the fact that a bag of Doritos right now is seven bucks.
And I said, look, I mean, all this other substrate of Hormuz blockade, you know, gold, Bitcoin, who cares? Doritos is seven bucks, guys. We have to talk about it. And as usual, we bring some smart people here. Lyn Alden, it's great to have you here with us. Great to be here. Yes, I've seen your work. You're brilliant. You're very smart. Macroeconomic, so we're looking forward to getting your insight as well. On Wednesdays, when we started doing this, I don't know what it was, Tom, a few months back. It's purely business, economy, numbers, and we'll do some politics as well. But let me go through some of the stories that we have going on. So tariff refunds, unlikely to benefit consumers, CMBC, CFO Council. Survey says Trump declines to say which countries would help US with Hormuz blockade. One thing we do know is that NATO allies refuse to join Trump's Iranian port blockade, according to Reuters. US begins blockade on Strait of Hormuz. Trump warns Iran attacks ships to stay away. UK not supporting U.S.-Iran blockade. As Francis Macron confirms, multinational talks on the Strait of Hormuz.
I believe Vance, Tom, when is Vance meeting with for part two? It's tomorrow, right?

**Tom Ellsworth** (1:49)
Tomorrow, Thursday. Remember, it will be very early US time, because it's in the afternoon over there, but supposedly tomorrow.

**Patrick Bet-David** (1:55)
I wonder what some people are saying, sending Vance. Was it a strategic thing to send a anti, non-interventionist to go and negotiate? Was it a way? Because typically, it should have been Marco Rubio, but you're sending Vance. Are you setting him up for failure? Are you setting him up for success? Is this almost like a tryout to see how well you do on the bigger scale of going out there and negotiating something this massive? Typically, vice president, you make them the czar of the border, and you never have to show up to it. We know a couple of guys in the past.

**Tom Ellsworth** (2:27)
If you don't even know where it is.

**Patrick Bet-David** (2:29)
If you don't even know where it is, yeah, you think it's in Europe.
So Iran weighing new talks on January 2nd. We'll talk about the venue. Vance says, US acquired some knowledge about Iran talks. China says it's ready to play constructive role for peace in the Gulf. BlackRock raises views on US stock on belief that war is over, profits are up. Major US cities offer cash incentives to spark growth, attract newcomers. I've got a bunch of numbers I want to talk to you about with the market and the economy and gold, which we'll get to. And Lyn, I want to get your thoughts on that because I know you talk about gold and Bitcoin.
US hospitals are emerging from bankruptcy only to falter again. Look at these parents here. Anxious parents, according to Bloomberg, are spending upwards of $50,000 to land their kids a job. It now costs $300,000 to raise a child in the US., really daunting situation for parents. If you want to have five kids, that's $1.5 million you need over a span of 18 years for each one of the kids. Americans say their incomes cannot keep up with rising prices. They're cutting back on groceries, ride shares and alcohol. Late payment rising for buy-now-pay-later loans. Survey says, we'll talk about that. Will gold reach $6,000 by the end of the year? Multiple companies are saying by the end of the year, it's going to be $6,000. And wait till you hear which one of them said it's going to be $6,300 by the end of the year. Housing shortage is at least 10 million. They said it was 2.5 million a few years ago. Then they said 4 million. Now it's 10 million shortage. So what kind of a cost is that good? Is that a lot of jobs?
If they do it in the right areas, what are the right areas? Some areas is not a good area. Then it goes into the blue, red state because of taxes, because a lot of people are thinking about taxes. These eight US housing markets favor buyers. And then Sam Altman, I think we need to address that. And probably on the conversation with Sam Altman, another story is about AI chatbots misdiagnosing over 80% of early medical cases. And then a couple other things that we'll get into here. Nearly 40% of Americans have less than $500 in cash savings. That is scary.