In America, coping with sickness is all about making someone else cough up. To a degree, General Motors’ deal to shift retiree healthcare obligations into a trust managed by the United Auto Workers is a victory for both sides. GM has to fund a voluntary employees’ beneficiary association upfront, but at a discount. The UAW takes on responsibility for its retired members’ healthcare costs, but this protects them from the risk that those very costs destroy the company that was funding them. This circularity boosts the Veba’s appeal: its creation raises future cash flow expectations, boosting the shares of the company concerned, in theory making it easier to fund the structure.

Does that portend a rash of new Vebas? Goldman Sachs estimates that even as the S&P 500’s collective pension deficit has, on one measure, disappeared, unfunded retiree healthcare obligations are about $289bn. That is, however, just 2 per cent of the index’s market value and exposure is very uneven: GM and Ford account for a quarter of the total amount. Certain other sectors, such as telecoms, also have big deficits. But they do not necessarily share Detroit’s other problems: a greying, unionised workforce and fear of bankruptcy.