[2009.4.8] Sacred territory 神圣职责 territory, Sacred, 职责

ixidor

The Federal Reserve
美国联邦储备

Sacred territory
神圣职责
Apr 8th 2009 | WASHINGTON, DC
From The Economist print edition

The hyperactive Fed finds its cherished independence is on the line
极度活跃的美联储美联储发现他们珍视的独立已命悬一线

THE Federal Reserve has ventured ever further into the political realm, propping up failing companies, lendingto industries other than banks and financing the federal budget through purchases of Treasury bonds. Now the politicians are threatening to respond in kind.

美联储已经前无古人地陷入到政治领域之中：支撑濒临倒闭的大公司，将资金贷给银行同时对其他产业进行补贴，以及通过购买国债为联邦预算融资。现在，某些政治家扬言将以其人之道还治其人之身。

By law, the Fed is independent. The president and Congress can do no more than name its seven governors,including the chairman. The governors share responsibility for monetary policy with presidents of the 12 reserve banks which are supervised by the board; these presidents are appointed by their banks’ boards and confirmed by the governors.

根据联邦法律，美联储是独立的。总统和国会除了提名和任命包括主席在内的7名美联储委员之外，不能对其施加任何影响。美联储委员及其下属12家储备银行行长共同承担制定货币政策之责任。其中，储备银行行长由银行董事会提名，受董事会监督，并由美联储委员任命。

That Congress may not audit the Fed or approve its budget provides an added element of security. But that may now be at risk. “The role of the Fed has changed dramatically, so the usual defence of, well, we shouldn’t intrude in the integrity and independence of the Fed, I think, no longer applies,” said Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, on March 31st. Gene Dodaro, who heads the Government Accountability Office(GAO), Congress’s investigative arm, complained that his ability to monitor federal support for the financial system is hamstrung because the GAO cannot audit the Fed’s monetary-policy or lending operations.

因为国会无权审核或批准美联储的任何预算，这更加确保了它的独立性。然而，现在这种情况可能已不再保险。3月31，参议院金融委员会主席马克斯 鲍克斯在日说道：“我觉得，美联储的角色已经发生如此戏剧性的改变，以至于那套保护美联储的完整与独立不受侵犯的老规矩已经不再适用了，”。国家审计总署（GAO）这只国会审计先锋军的领军人物（-_-），杜达罗，抱怨道，在对联邦政府提供给金融系统的支持进行审计时，因无法对美联储的货币政策和贷款行为进行审查，他的功用大受掣肘。

Two days later, when the Senate voted for a federal-budget outline, it included a non-binding resolution giving the Senate authority to audit the Fed and requiring the central bank to disclose the name of anyone to whom it lends. A less draconian resolution requires the Fed to describe its collateral at regular intervals and calls for an
“evaluation” of the Fed’s reserve banks. Congress has often targeted these banks, whose presidents are more likely to vote for higher interest rates than the governors. Even friends of the Fed question the usefulness of the 12 banks and their geographical distribution, which reflects the country’s political make-up in 1913.

两天后，也就是参议院为联邦预算草案投票当天，在草案中附加了一个非强制性决议，在该项决议中参议院被授权监督美联储，并要求中央银行披露它所资助的任何企业或个人。一份不太苛刻的决议要求美联储定期披露它的抵押品，并提议对联邦储备银行进行“改革”。这些银行的行长比美联储委员更趋向于高利率，因而国会一直以来视这些储备银行为眼中钉。 12家储备银行及其地理位置的分布，代表的还是1913年时国家的政治组成，对此，包括美联储的支持者也对其作用表示怀疑。

When viewed in isolation, the resolutions do not amount to much, since they do not aim to intrude on monetary policy and are not binding. Carrying them out would require a change in the law which is unlikely for now. The Fed itself has begun a “top-to-bottom” review aimed at boosting its transparency, although it is highly unlikely to agree to name borrowers. A possible alternative to giving the GAO auditing authority would be giving more powers to the Fed’s own inspector-general.

分别看来，这两项决议并未起到太大作用，因为决议既未试图干预货币政策，同时不是强制性的。颁布此项决议旨在要求修改法律，然而这在当下还不现实。美联储已就提高其本身的透明度展开了一场”自上而下“的自我检讨，虽然它不太可能披露债务人到底是谁。与其将审查的权利交给国家审计总署，美联储可能会将这种权利交给其内部的监管人员。

The latest actions are troubling nonetheless. The Fed’s interventions have been defensible given the scale of the crisis and lack of alternatives, but they have exposed it to public anger over bail-outs for bankers. Tim Geithner, the treasury secretary, owes his recent problems in part to having overseen the bail-out of American International Group, an insurer, in his previous job as head of the New York Fed.

但是，最近美联储的做法惹来了争议。由于金融危机空前的规模和有限的选择，美联储的介入可以说是防御性的，然而，它为银行家的错误埋单的行为却引起了公愤。现任财政部长提姆盖特纳将他眼下的问题归咎于，在他之前任职纽约联邦储备银行行长期间，高估了拯救美国国际集团（AIG）的重要性，而后者是美国一家重要的保险公司。

The controversy also comes at a delicate moment for the Fed. Two governors’ seats are vacant and Ben Bernanke’s four-year term as chairman ends next January. The Fed also needs favours from Congress: it would like authority to issue debt securities to soak up the excess liquidity its rescue operations have created,or for the Treasury to have authority on its behalf. The Treasury is seeking to revamp financial rules and give
the Fed more sway over the financial system. Hostile congressmen could seize on such initiatives to impose changes that the Fed doesn’t want.

一些纠纷同时也出现在非常微妙时刻。两位美联储委员空缺，而主席伯南克的四年任期将在明年一月份结束。美联储同样需要国会的垂青：它需要国会授权发行债券以回笼因其救援行动而造成的流动性过剩，或是为方便财政部行动争取机会。财政部正伺机修改金融法规以为美联储在金融系统内发挥作用提供更多特权。反对美联储的国会议员很可能抓住机会促进一些美联储所不愿看到的改革。

As if to pre-empt threats to its independence, the central bank and the Treasury released a joint statement last month affirming their shared responsibility for financial stability and the Fed’s sole responsibility for monetary policy. It was meant to be reassuring, but it mostly served to emphasise how much the Fed has become entangled in fiscal and financial policy.

似乎是为了抢占先机，以对抗可能影响美联储独立性的威胁，中央银行和财政部在上个月发表的一份联合声明中强调美联储与财政部维护金融稳定的共同职责，以及美联储主导货币政策的独特角色。这项声明的本意是为了消除疑虑，然而，它更像是强调美联储是多么深陷于财政与金融政策的泥潭之中。<object ID=video2 WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=62 CLASSID=CLSID:CFCDAA03-8BE4-11CF-B84B-0020AFBBCCFA>
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premiermao

The hyperactive Fed应该译成“极度活跃的美联储”而非“亢奋的”

lending to industries other than banks 将更多钱贷给产业而不是银行

明显误译。首先原文中并没有“将更多的钱借给...”这个意思；其次，要注意原文是other than而不是rather than。所以应该译成“不仅贷款给银行业，还贷款给其他行业”。

ixidor

The hyperactive Fed应该译成“极度活跃的美联储”而非“亢奋的”


明显误译。首先原文中并没有“将更多的钱借给...”这个意思；其次，要注意原文是other than而不是rather than。所以应该译成“不仅贷款给银行业 ...
premiermao 发表于 2009-4-17 23:07

1，您给出了很好的建议，这个地方真的是想当然了
2，“极度活跃的美联储”和“亢奋的”的区别不知体现在哪里，望明示

premiermao

hyperactive在这里的意思是说美联储在金融危机爆发后被迫（或主动）承担起原来不属于其职责范围的任务。正像文中说的，美联储的主要责任是通过管理货币政策来稳定市场价格，但在过去几个月中却积极介入财政政策的制定和运用，因此译成“极度活跃的”比较准确。“亢奋的”一般形容人的情绪，hyperactive这个词跟“亢奋的”还不太一样，另外译成“亢奋的”也无法表达出上述涉足职责范围外事务的意思。希望我说清楚了。

ixidor

hyperactive在这里的意思是说美联储在金融危机爆发后被迫（或主动）承担起原来不属于其职责范围的任务。正像文中说的，美联储的主要责任是通过管理货币政策来稳定市场价格，但在过去几个月中却积极介入财政政策的制定 ...
premiermao 发表于 2009-4-20 14:55

非常感谢您耐心的解答，非常的清楚明白

waterhouse

5# ixidor

楼主辛苦了，这篇文章比较有难度。
“Now the politicians are threatening to respond in kind."
在文中是什么意思？我不懂，还望明示。