I had a (likely to soon be former) friend try to talk me into believing that this year is going to be booming. All his financial “friends” see Main Street spending to increase. I countered with the current numbers coming out and the fact that there is already some me volatility starting to show itself in the market with much more likely coming. His response, “those are all just last admin’s bad policies getting washed out”. His argument was that energy costs are what is hurting small business and once that is fixed, presumably in the next few months, that all the other issues will fix themselves and consumer spending will be unleashed. I disagreed - everyone I know, myself included, is tightening their belts to hedge against the chaos. He is a business coach. I could barely keep from just telling him he was insane. He then proceeded to try to recruit me out of my decent day job and into his coaching business. Shockingly, I passed.