Maybe this is because Washington is more like Brasilia or Canberra than London or Rome: an artificial capital conjured from the swamp.

In the Ramsay case, a company which had made a substantial capital gain had entered into a complex and self-cancelling series of transactions which had generated an artificial capital loss.

In summary, companies that had made substantial capital gains had entered into complex and self-cancelling series of transactions that had generated artificial capital losses, for the purpose of avoiding capital gains tax.

"The expansion of diversity in New York has always paralleled the global reach of the city," he added, "and New York was the city of nations even before the United States became the artificial capital of the world with the United Nations."