True, there are some special factors helping the US. It is a lot easier to be interested in the market when it is home to Apple, Tesla and Netflix, instead of United Utilities, Vodafone and Legal & General. During the pandemic, stock trading caught on as a popular craze, with day traders going crazy over meme stocks.

The steady outperformance of New York’s markets meant it has been a lot easier to make money, while the FTSE 100 has generated almost no meaningful returns over the last two decades. And of course the US is now a far richer country, thanks largely to its tech and energy industries, which means that people have more spare cash to invest. That all helps.

Even so, the US has managed to significantly widen equity ownership. That will hugely benefit the economy. Wider share ownership, as Margaret Thatcher recognised in the 1980s, enables people to have a direct stake in a free market system.

The benefits of free and open competition are not just theoretical, but clearly evident in their portfolio. It enables ordinary families to benefit from the success of the country’s major corporations, and also to build up significant levels of personal wealth.

Indeed, the Fed survey found the net worth of the average American family had surged by 37pc over the last three years, rising to $193,000 (£159,000) per household. That is a great financial cushion.