Walking down Lexington Avenue this week, I came across a homeless man whose pitch for money, articulated in neat block letters on a piece of cardboard, included the information “I do not have a yacht or even an i-Phone”. I thought it was a great line, one that underscored something incredible about America today – a lot of people have a lot of money.

It is, of course, not true that the lack of a personal ocean-going vessel qualifies you for charitable contributions from your fellow citizens, and even i-Phones are still luxury goods. Yet it is also the case, as The New York Times recounted last weekend, that in some parts of the country, like the Silicon Valley enclave of Menlo Park, people with a net worth of a mere million or two feel rather poor.