The good news is that, after much brinkmanship, agreement has arrived on the outlines of a bail-out plan for the troubled US financial system. The bad news remains the need for such a rescue. Self-evidently, big lessons have to be learnt from the scale of the calamity.

It is easy to sympathise with Republicans who oppose bail-outs on principle and Democrats who object to the generous treatment of those whose folly and greed created the current financial mess. But seizure of the credit system is now on the cards. That is not a danger a sane person should run.