[編譯] 西方資本主義陷入危機

[pursuistmi (common people)]

Crisis puts whole of the west at risk

By Chrystia Freeland

Published: September 28 2008 22:16 | Last updated: September 28 2008 22:16

Thursday afternoon was the moment America realised its version of capitalism
is not working any more. You could feel the pain of that eureka moment from
Wall Street to Main Street, where the middle class howled at the magnitude of
a mooted $700bn bail-out package.

禮拜四下午，美國赫然發現他們的資本主義模式行不通了。你可以感受到那多麼痛的
領悟從華爾街瀰漫到小鎮大街。到處是中產階級的怒吼，撻伐龐大而爭議性極高的七
千億拯救金融方案。

The most direct expression of this epiphany was on Capitol Hill, where an
apostate faction of House Republicans declared their 11th-hour opposition to
the financial plan being advanced by their own president and secretary of the
Treasury. Part of what was going on was political posturing ahead of the
November 4 election. But at the heart of the rebellion was the fear that, as
Jen Hensarling, the Texas congressman who led the resistance said, the rescue
plan would lead the US down “the road to socialism”.

這頓悟最直接的展現就是在國會山丘上。一群變節的共和黨議員宣稱他們緊急協商的
第十一小時所提出的反對，是他們自己的總統和財政部長推動的。就部分來說，這小
手段是為了十一月四號的政治語言。但在變節的核心是恐懼，如領頭的德州眾議員
HENSARLING所說，拯救方案會把美國帶往「社會主義之路」。

Socialism is probably stretching it. But there is no denying that the
financial crisis, and the Treasury and Federal Reserve’s response to it,
mark the end of a long era of US laisser-faire capitalism and the beginning
of a period of government intervention and reregulation.

用社會主義或許太超過了。但不可否認的是，這次金融風暴，以及財政部和聯準會的
反應，代表著美國自由放任資本主義的終結，以及政府干預和重啟管制的開始。

Ronald Reagan set the ideological tone for a generation when he declared that
government is not the solution, it is the problem. Yet over the weekend,
Reagan’s Republican party seemed set to take a deep, disgusted breath and
support the biggest government intervention in the economy since the New Deal.

雷根定義一個世代的意識型態：他宣稱政府不是良藥，而是癥結。而過去這一個禮拜，
雷根的共和黨似乎注定要深深吸一口對從新計畫開始的大政府干預政策充滿憎惡的氣。

In a week that brought the largest retail bank failure in US history and the
end of the standalone Wall Street investment bank, it was easy to miss the
explicit declaration of surrender by one of Washington’s erstwhile leading
proponents of deregulation, Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and
Exchange Commission. On Friday he released a statement saying: “The last six
months have made it abundantly clear that voluntary regulation does not work.
”
一週內，美國史上最大零售銀行垮台，以及曾經獨步一時的華爾街投資銀行終結：這些
大按很容易讓人忽略華盛頓圈內支持解除管制的領頭人物SEC主席Christopher Cox的
失敗宣言。星期五他說：「最近六個月以來，已經清楚證明，自主管制是行不通的。」

You might think the new respectability of government as an essential economic
actor would be welcomed by the Democrats – and you would be partly right.
Indeed, one of Barack Obama’s better lines in the presidential debate was
his claim that the financial turmoil “is a final verdict on eight years of
failed economic policies promoted by George Bush, supported by Senator McCain
..."

你可能會認為政府作為財經要角的新官威會受到民主黨的歡迎─你可能部分正確。
歐巴馬在總統辯論時最好的好口號之一，就是他宣稱經濟混亂「是馬坎支持的布希
政府八年錯誤經濟政策的最後判決...」。

But the crisis of Wall Street's superleveraged capitalism is not entirely good
news for the left. The effort and cost of cleaning up the markets may
jeopardise other areas, such as healthcare reform, in which Democrats had
hoped to reassert the virtues of active government.

但華爾街的高槓桿資本主義對左派不是什麼好消息。幫市場收尾善後的付出和成本
可能會影響其他面向，如健保改革這類民主黨希望能重新賦予積極政府的正面功能。

Americans are struggling to comprehend what the financial crisis means for
their economy. Yet the biggest impact may be on the role the US plays in the
rest of the world. By coincidence, the United Nations General Assembly held
its annual meeting in New York this week. Many of the heads of state had
experienced financial crises and endured lectures from Washington about the
need for a tough, market-driven government response.

美國人仍然在試圖理解金融風暴對他們經濟所代表的意義。最大的衝擊會是美國在全世界
扮演的角色。純粹巧合，聯合國年度大會這禮拜於紐約舉行。許多國家元首都有金融危機
的經驗，也忍受了華盛頓方面告誡大家應該要有個強硬的、市場趨向政府對策的演講。

As one European head of state said, the discrediting of open market democracy
is dangerous for all the countries of what we used to call the west. "It is
very damaging," he said. "Some people are trying to see this as a failure of
western values, of capitalism overal. When I met African leaders this week,
some of them said to me: "May be we should follow the Chinese model, instead.
Authoritarianism seems to work for them."

如一位歐洲元首所說，批評開放市場民主對我們所謂的西方世界國家來說是非常危險的。
「這會有殺傷力，」他說。「有些人會試圖把這次看做是西方價值的失敗，甚至資本
主義整體的失敗。這禮拜我與非洲元首會面，一些人說：『或許我們應該走中國路線。
他們那套威權主義似乎還不賴。』」


copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008.


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/15e9738e-8d97-11dd-83d5-0000779fd18c.html


                                                煩請注意附上原稿來源

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※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 220.129.160.197
推 hunmir:最後一段說到了一種憂心。高舉著也同意的並且被認為有實質
→ hunmir:意義的旗幟，卻未能守護好，而弄髒了它。這不是所希望見到
→ hunmir:的，雖然早已知道訕笑與被急切下結論必不可免。
→ hunmir:另外"Some people...of capitalism overall"這句翻出來感覺
→ hunmir:有點怪 或許該翻成並列的意思，"看做是西方價值 及 資本主
→ hunmir:義整體 的失敗"
推 kpier2:中英對照，讓人更明其義，感謝原Po!
→ pursuistmi:同意hunmir，感謝閱讀訂正！
※ 編輯: pursuistmi      來自: 220.129.160.197      (09/29 17:54)
※ 編輯: pursuistmi      來自: 220.129.160.197      (09/29 17:55)
推 hunmir:感謝原PO熱誠的翻譯:)