"you kind of feel the boominess of the place, right?"
"Within two minutes, he was talking about the stock market, Bitcoin, AI, Nvidia, the whole thing. And I'm, like, driving down Sunset Boulevard with this guy, right?"
"the way in which finance permeates the society"
"his whole idea was like, 'My god, these people are obsessed with money.' Europeans were obsessed with other stuff, you know, hierarchy."
Arrival in Los Angeles reveals immediate, pervasive boominess and a culture saturated with financial conversation. An ordinary Uber ride quickly turned into a discussion of the stock market, Bitcoin, AI, and Nvidia, illustrating everyday speculative talk. Such commonplace financial chatter contrasts with Ireland and Europe, where finance does not permeate social life to the same degree. The universality of money in the United States stands out as a distinct cultural trait that fascinates Europeans. Historical perspective traces the phenomenon back to Alexis de Tocqueville’s 1840s observations that Americans seemed obsessed with money while Europeans focused on hierarchy.
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