“Ralph” a 31-year-old former hedge fund manager, was driving me to Wall Street in his convertible. He is a shy guy but recently bought himself a convertible and it had changed his life. It was raining, so Ralph and I were getting soaked. There was a lot of traffic. We were sitting at traffic lights and construction crews were laughing at us. “Who cares?” Ralph would yell, “it’s still the best.”

But let’s rewind 30 minutes. Ralph and I were sitting down for breakfast and he was giving me his latest analysis of the economic situation. “We’re screwed,” he said. “The US is on the brink of economic collapse.”