Financial reform in America经济学人经典美文.docx

1、Financial reform in America经济学人经典美文Financial reform in America美国金融改革A decent start良好的开端A somewhat clumsy bill is hardly a panacea, though it fixes some important things一部略显笨拙的法案虽然不能包治百病，但也能医好一些要害重症。Jul 1st 2010IT IS touted as the biggest overhaul of American finance since the Great Depression. The 2

2、,319-page Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, now nearing the end of its odyssey through Congress, tackles almost every aspect of American finance frommunicipal bondsto executive pay. Its success, however, rests on a simple question: does it make another crisis significantly l

3、ess likely?长达2319页的多德-弗兰克华尔街改革与消费者保护法案即将完成它在国会的漫漫征程而真正成为法律。它被吹捧为“大萧条”以来美国最严厉的金改法案，其内容包罗万象，从市政债券到高管薪酬，涉及到美国金融领域的方方面面。但是，这部金改法案的成功与否取决于一个非常简单的问题：它能有效规避一场新的危机吗？The reform does make progress in three critical areas: regulatory oversight, derivatives and dealing with troubled banks that are too big to fa

4、il. Yet by itself, this bill, whose passage in the Senate is still not quite secure, is an incomplete remedy (see article). Much depends on how American regulators implement its provisions. Congress left several meaty matters for later, including the crippled mortgage giants,Fannie Mae and Freddie M

5、ac. And even more is riding on how the Basel club of international banking supervisors compel banks to raise theirbuffersof capital andliquidity.此次改革的确在政府监管、金融衍生品以及对于麻烦缠身但又“大而不倒”的银行的处置这三个至关重要的领域击出重拳。然而这部法案本身仍是一剂不够健全的处方，能不能在参议院获得通过还是个问题。成败在很大程度上取决于美国监管机关能否严格落实法案中的各项条款。国会推迟了几个重要事项的决议，包括困难重重的两大房贷巨头房利美和

6、房地美的处置问题。而巴塞尔国际银行监管委员会如何敦促银行业增加资本金和现金缓冲将在更大程度上决定金改的成败。Start with what the bill gets right. Though the financial crisis was global, it originated in Americas uniquely fragmented financial system, overseen by a patchwork of federal and state regulators. Dodd-Frank missed its chance to eliminate that p

7、atchwork, but offers decent alternatives. It creates a council to advise regulators on emerging threats. It consolidates oversight of consumer financial products, from mortgages to credit cards, in a single agency. And big financial firms that arent banks can be yanked into the embrace of the Federa

8、l Reserve.先来看看此法案的明智之处。尽管这次金融危机是全球性的，但是它根源于美国的金融体系。美国金融体系由大大小小的联邦和各州监管机关进行监督，相当支离破碎，这是极为罕见的。多德-弗兰克法案没能抓住机会清理这一混乱的监管局面，不过它给出了一个不错的替代方案成立一个委员会针对新暴露的威胁向监管者献计献策，并将抵押贷款、信用卡等消费者金融产品的监管归并到同一机构下。此外，非银行金融机构可以被纳入美联储的管辖范围内。Though a secondary player in the crisis, derivatives are a perennial candidate for causi

9、ng the next one because they add opacity andleverageto the financial system. Most derivatives that now trade dealer-to-dealer will be traded on public exchanges. That will lessen the risk that one dealers failure brings down others. An extreme proposal to stop banks trading derivatives has been merc

10、ifully scaled back. (The Volcker rule, limiting banks ability totrade on their own account, also seems likely to hurt Wall Street profits less than some feared.)虽然金融衍生品在此次危机中只是推波助澜，而非头号罪犯，但是以后每次危机爆发都少不了它们的“功劳”，因为它们给金融体系增加了不透明性和大量融资。大多数目前在交易商之间转手的衍生品将在公共交易所上买卖，这将减少一个交易商的失手殃及其他交易商的风险。一项极端的提议主张禁止银行从事衍生

11、品交易。令人欣慰的是，最后决议大大削弱了这一主张的力度。（限制银行自负盈亏交易能力的伏尔克法规看来也不会像有的人担心的那样使华尔街的利润大幅缩水。）The most important provision is theresolution authorityunder which federal regulators canseizeany financial company whose failure threatens the financial system, and quickly pay offsecured creditorswhile imposing losses on sha

12、reholders and unsecured creditors. This is an improvement on the status quo. Such resolution authority already exists for banks, but for other companies like Lehman Brothers and American International Group, regulators face a dreadful choice of either bailing out the company and its creditors or let

13、ting it go bankrupt. Yet in its zeal to protect taxpayers, Congress has made the resolution process so similar to bankruptcy that counterparties and lenders may still choose to abandon a troubled firm to avoid losses. Other steps are still needed: for example, regulators should create a new ring-fen

14、ced group of creditors who would be exposed to losses in resolution. But the horrible truth is that the effectiveness of any such body will be discovered only when a real crisis occurs.其中一则条款意义最为重大，它赋予联邦监管机构“破产清算授权”，当任何金融公司因经营失败而对整个金融系统产生威胁时，监管机构可以将其置于掌下，并迅速清偿对有担保债权人的欠款，而让股东和无担保债权人承担损失。这是对现状的一个改进。对银

15、行的监管已经有这样的决议权存在，但是对于雷曼兄弟和美国国际集团等其他公司，监管者面临着一个两难的抉择：要么解救这个公司及其股东，要么任其倒闭。然而，为了保护纳税人的利益，国会规定的破产清算程序与实际倒闭已然相差无几，交易双方和债权人可能仍会为避免损失而选择放弃泥潭深陷的公司。其他的措施仍然是不可或缺的，例如，监管机构应成立一个新的债权人小组，将其划入清算范围，在清算中承担损失。但是事实是残酷的：这样的组织是否有效，只有一场真正的危机爆发时才能知道。Meanwhile there are two other ways to mitigate the risks flowing from bank

16、s that are seen as too big to fail. One is toclaw backthe subsidy such firms enjoy in their borrowing, both to encourage them to shrink and to pay for the clean-up when they fail. Barack Obama has proposed a bank tax that would serve the purpose. Despite the failure of the G20 to agree on such a tax

17、 last week, America (and other countries) should press ahead. The other is to force financial institutions to have more capital and liquidity to make collapses less likely in the first place. Negotiations in Basel have slowed as Europeans fret that stiffening standards may slow lending and hinder ec

18、onomic recovery. Implementation should indeed not be rushed. Yet in the longer term bigger buffers are essential.同时，要减轻“大而不倒”的银行带来的风险，还有另外两条途径。其一，通过税收等手段弥补在它们贷款时提供补贴而造成的开支，既可以促使它们缩小规模，当它们经营失败时，又可以冲销对它们进行破产清算所产生的费用。为此，奥巴马建议施加一项银行税。尽管上周的20国集团峰会否决了此项税收的施行，但是美国（以及其他国家）仍应设法将其付诸实践。其二，要求金融机构储备更多的资本和现金，减小破产

19、的可能性。由于欧洲各国担心僵化的标准可能会放缓借贷、阻碍经济复苏，巴塞尔谈判进程放缓。Still a work in progress尚需努力In America Dodd-Franks actual impact will depend greatly on how regulators like the Fed and the new consumer agency enforce its provisions. The risks cut two ways. Banks and their lobbyists may persuade regulators to interpret th

20、e new rules in the friendliest possible way to Wall Street, as they did before the crunch: the treatment of the ratings agencies, which seem to live a charmed life, will be a good test. In the opposite direction, regulators may overreachstifling innovation which, for all its recent excesses, has ove

21、r time been a force for good.在美国，多德-弗兰克法案的真实效力将在很大程度上取决于美联储和新成立的消费者权利保护署等监管机构推行法案的力度。这将面临两大风险。银行和它们的游说人员可能会旧戏重演，延续危机前的做法，想方设法劝说监管者以最有利于华尔街的方式施行新规定。评级机构似乎一直都是高枕无忧，而它们此后将如何对待这些银行，将是个不错的测试。另一方面，监管机构可能会矫枉过正，监管过度。尽管近来创新泛滥，但是它一直都是一股推动进步的力量，而过度的监管会抑制创新之潮。At the G20 Mr Obama boasted of “leading by example”

22、on financial reform. In fact, Dodd-Frank is too idiosyncratically American and too incomplete to be a true template for others. And his claim that it would keep a financial crisis like the one the world just went through “from ever happening again” is bound to prove wrong. Yet imperfect though it is

23、, the reform is proof that even a government as fractious as Americas can move with impressive speed when the motivation is there.在20国集团峰会上，奥巴马扬言要在金融改革上“树立榜样”。而事实上，新法案太具有美国特色，并且太不完整，难以成为值得其他国家仿效的模版。他声称，有了这部法案，世界将“永远不再”经历像刚刚过去的这场危机一样的金融灾难。但是，现实势必将推翻这一说法。然而，虽然这部法案还不完善，但是它证明，即使是如此心浮气躁的美国政府，只要有足够的动力，行动起

24、来也能雷厉风行。本帖最后由 xstream999 于 2010-7-9 23:48 编辑The return of wheat rust小麦锈病的重袭The disease eating away our daily bread蚕食粮食的病害A genuine food scare to worry aboutand also learn from真正应该担心的食品恐慌以及从中学到的Jul 1st 2010IN 1998, at a research station in south-west Uganda, William Wagoire, a plant breeder out check

25、ing his crops, came across something that everyone thought had been driven from the face of the Earth: the crimson cankers of stem rust, a disease that was once wheats deadliest scourge but had not been seen since the Green Revolution that transformed agriculture in the second half of the 20th centu

26、ry. Since then stem rust has spread from a corner of Africas Great Lakes to countries as distant as Iran and, recently, South Africa (see article). Scientists now fear that the fungus cannot be kept out of Punjab, one of the worlds great bread baskets.在1998年，乌干达西南部的一个研究站里，育种家William Wagoire出去检查他的作物，

27、遇到了每一个人都以为已经从地球上赶走的东西：深红溃烂茎秆锈病，一种曾经是小麦最致命的杀手，但自20世纪后半叶的绿色革命改变农业以后，就再也没见到过的病害。从那以后，锈病从非洲大湖区的角落里蔓延至其他国家，近到南非，远至伊朗（见图）。科学家们现在担心旁遮普邦世界上最大的粮食产地之一，也不能将锈菌拒之门外。So far rust has not caused a disaster. But that is mostly because of luck, and luck does not last. In the right conditions stem rust destroys everyt

28、hing in its path. After decades in which they have not encountered the disease most of the worlds wheat varieties have fallen behind in the endless battle of thrust and counter-thrust waged by predators and prey. They are defenceless. Wheat is the most widely planted crop in the world, providing a f

29、ifth of mankinds calories. So the return of stem rust could cause vast suffering, threatening mass hunger in some of the worlds most populated areas.到目前为止，锈病并没有造成灾害。但是这很可能是因为侥幸，而幸运总不会长久。当条件适宜时，茎秆锈病可以摧毁前进道路上的一切东西。这种病害已经有数十年未曾遇到，所以世界上大多数种类的小麦已经在生物圈中捕食及被捕食的进化规则中落了下风。它们是毫无设防的。小麦是世界上种植最广泛的作物，为全世界五分之一的人口提

30、供口粮。所以茎秆锈病的重袭预示着世界上人口最多的一些地区有发生大规模饥荒的危险，这将会荼毒甚多。Scare stories abound, but this is one worth taking seriously. Fortunately, the story of wheat rustalbeit punctuated with carelessness and complacencyis not just of destruction but also of unacknowledged successes. Plant breeders have come up with remed

31、ies and strategies that could keep stem rust at bay. But they urgently need more help.耸人听闻的故事很多，但这一个却值得认真对待。幸运的是，小麦茎秆锈病的事情尽管被疏忽和自满所耽搁也并不仅仅只是失败，也有尚未被证实的成功。育种学家们想出了补救措施和策略，可以阻止茎秆锈病蔓延。但是他们迫切地需要更多的帮助。For decades wheat was protected by a single rust-resisting gene identified by Norman Borlaug, the scient

32、ist behind the Green Revolution (in fact the growth in yields that was that revolutions great achievement began with his research into rust). The evolution of rust to overcome this genetic barrier enabled the disease to spread. But in the past few seasons plant breeders have developed new defences. Instead of erecting a single barrier, they now set up several lower defences that reduce rusts harm. By itself, each would be inadequate. Together, however, they offer enough protectionand have the advantage t