The ill-tempered struggle in Washington over raising the federal debt limit is enough to make anyone gloomy about the future of the US. Clive Crook, my FT colleague, rightly contrasts the stasis among politicians with the “unrivalled energy and ambition” of US workers.

Unfortunately, while the former still have full-time jobs many of the latter do not. One reason for the nasty mood on Capitol Hill is the voters’ angst amid a slow recovery that has failed to dent the unemployment rate. It rose in June to 9.2 per cent, leaving 14.6m stranded by the “jobless recovery”.

I had the chance earlier this month to go and see the American worker in action at two plants in North and South Carolina owned by General Electric, the country’s second-biggest exporter. There was much to admire on the trip – more than in Washington – but little cause for optimism about job creation.