We have, it seems, reached that point in the economic cycle when resentment is rising against the rich. In an economic upswing few mind that the rich are doing better than others. If you can buy a Mini then why worry that someone else is picking up a Maserati? But in the downswing it just seems plain unjust that the rich invariably avoid their share of the pain.

That sentiment has marked the US presidential election campaign as fears of recession grip the country. House prices are falling, over-stretched mortgage holders are losing their homes, banks have blown billions in the credit markets and yet disgraced financiers have walked away with millions in a perverse “heads-I-win, tails-you-lose” kind of capitalism. The two remaining Democratic candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, have been feeding off such populist resentments. Mr Obama, in particular, has been attacking the “moral deficit” in the US that has led to such a wide divide between the super-rich and 37m poor Americans. “We have a deficit when CEOs are making more in 10 minutes than some workers make in 10 months,” he says.