During the US presidential campaigning, neither candidate was about to let the financial crisis dictate a wholesale remake of his economic platform. As the markets crashed and the recession rolled in, every promise stood, however ancient its provenance, as though nothing had changed and dealing with the crisis was a separate issue. It took Barack Obama three days - from the election result to his first press conference - to think again.

At said conference, the president-elect declined to confirm that he would raise top tax rates soon. Is he wondering if John McCain, his Republican opponent, was right, and this is no time to be raising anybody's taxes? Mr Obama also said that his promised tax cuts for "95 per cent of working families" should be seen as part of a new fiscal stimulus. Previously, he had not mentioned this as a reason for cutting taxes. On the contrary, he had emphasised that his plan was roughly revenue neutral, implying that any stimulus would be second order.