Economic crises are notoriously the great testing grounds for the restlessly innovative spirit of capitalist enterprise. Adversity refines the mettle and taxes the imagination of your plucky entrepreneur, who doggedly carves new fortunes out of the main chances the chastened market affords for his wares. In the shadow of economic defeat, a thousand crisitunities bloom.

Or you know, maybe not. From across the pond comes an arresting Financial Times dispatch on how the global credit crunch has been an enormous boon for the hoariest brand of economic elite: the titled aristocracy. As global land speculators pack up their debts and head for the exits, the cash-rich beneficiaries of [...]