This week, Barack Obama urged chief executives to consider the moral implications of the fact that many earn more in a day than the average worker in their companies makes in a year. His left-of-centre audience applauded enthusiastically – and predictably. More surprising is that the very plutocrats Obama targeted are pretty sweet on the Illinois senator too. Hedge fund managers and private equity dealmakers – the Street’s new royalty – seem especially smitten, helping the rookie to pull in a walloping $25m in the first quarter of this year, just $1m shy of the Clinton machine’s haul.

Figuring out Obama’s improbable appeal to the money men has become a favourite Manhattan parlour game. Is it shared entrepreneurial spirit? Could it be rich white liberal guilt? Recently, I came across a new explanation, and it is one that says a lot about how American business sees the world in this age of globalisation. My source is Byron Wien, chief investment strategist at Pequot Capital, who met Obama at a New York fundraiser and recounted their conversation to me. (Obama’s spokesman did not get back to me when I asked him to confirm the exchange.)