It is stunning that Apple managed to sell 74m smartphones in the fourth quarter of last year. The resulting profit, $18bn, is unfathomably large. At the same time, though, it is not a surprise that Apple is the most profitable company in the world. The influence of its products is immense. We live in an age of information, mobility and connectivity. Apple is the company for our times and so it seems natural that it should make the most money.

In that context it is striking to consider the companies that have led the US profits table over the past six decades.

At one end, Apple; at the other, General Motors. Between them, a gradual transformation of the US corporate landscape. In the 1950s, the fattest profits were stamped out by manufacturers and heavy industry; the scene today is more raucous, with technology, healthcare, finance and telecoms among the biggest earners. And through the years in between, a single wide streak of continuity: huge profits at the oil groups.