America's top financial officials say they need broad new powers to regulate companies like insurance giant AIG, which are partly blamed for the country's financial crisis. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before the House Financial Services Committee Tuesday.
美国财长盖特纳和美联储主席伯南克在出席国会众议院金融服务委员会听证会时表示，他们需要广泛的新授权，以监管像保险业巨头美国国际集团这样的公司。这些金融企业被指责为酿成金融危机的部分原因。
In recent weeks AIG and its multi-billion dollar taxpayer bailout have become targets of public fury and frustration. A once-successful titan in the insurance industry, AIG (American Insurance Group) became enmeshed in America's home mortgage meltdown by insuring questionable debt accrued by banks and other institutions around the world. After receiving more than $180 billion in emergency federal assistance to stave off collapse, AIG recently gave top employees bonuses totaling $165 million - even as the company reported the biggest quarterly loss in U.S. corporate history.
最近几个星期，获得上千亿美元纳税人资金救助的美国国际集团成为公众发泄愤怒和不满的目标。美国国际集团一度是全球保险业巨头，但由于为银行和全球其它金融机构的问题债务提供保险而深度卷入金融危机。在获得联邦政府高达1千8百亿美元的紧急救助而免于破产后，美国国际集团最近向高级雇员发放了1亿6千5百万美元的奖金，尽管该公司刚刚创下美国公司历史上最高的季度亏损纪录。
Ire over the AIG debacle continued to smolder on Capitol Hill.
国会对此深表不满。
"Bonuses paid out by profitable companies to outstanding employees make sense," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican. "Taxpayer-funded bonuses paid out by failing companies that owe taxpayers money make no sense."
德克萨斯州共和党籍众议员杰布.亨萨灵说：“盈利公司向优秀雇员发放奖金有道理。欠着纳税人钱的失败公司用纳税人的钱发奖金没有道理。”
Some AIG executives have returned the bonuses they received, while Congress ponders legislation that would tax the bonuses at an exceptionally high rate.
President Barack Obama has expressed misgivings about the legislation, but he insists he shares in the public's outrage over the AIG bonuses.
Treasury Secretary Geithner agreed that the bonuses are unconscionable, but said there was no practical way for him to block them. In addition, he said the government's options for dealing with AIG's collapse were limited from the start.
美国财长盖特纳同意，这些奖金发的确实不对。但是他说，他也没有可行的办法阻止这些奖金发放。此外，他表示，联邦政府在处理美国国际集团的问题上一开始就面临有限的选择。
"This is a tragic thing," said Geithner. "We came into this crisis without the authority and the tools necessary to contain the damage to the American economy posed by the very severe pressures working through the financial system."
“这是很可悲的。从危机开始，我们就缺乏必要的授权和工具，来遏制金融系统传递的严重压力伤害美国经济。”
As Geithner explained, the federal government has the power to take over and liquidate failed banks. But no such mechanism exists for non-bank financial institutions like AIG whose failure would inflict great economic pain on the nation as a whole. The treasury secretary listed the powers the government should possess going forward.
盖特纳解释说，联邦政府有权接管和清算破产银行。不过，对于美国国际集团这种非银行性质的金融机构，尽管它们的失败同样会给美国经济造成巨大阵痛，但联邦政府却没有类似的机制。盖特纳财长列出政府在以后处理这类公司的时候应该具备的授权。
"To sell or transfer the assets or liability of the institution in question. To renegotiate or repudiate the institution's contracts and prevent certain financial contracts with the institution from being terminated on account of conservatorship or receivership," he said. "This proposed legislation would fill a significant void in the current financial services regulatory structure."
“政府应该有权出售或者转让问题企业的资产和债务，有权重新谈判或者否决问题企业的合同，同时有权依据政府托管或者接管安排防止和该企业签订的某些金融合同被终止。这项新提出的立法将填补现有金融监管框架的一个重要空白。”
Some have asked why companies like AIG were not allowed to go bankrupt, rather than the government investing massive sums of taxpayer money to prop them up.
观察人士提出，为什么不让美国国际集团这类公司破产，而必须由政府动用纳税人的大量资金来支撑它们?
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said AIG's bankruptcy would have made a dire financial crisis far worse, possibly turning an economic recession into a prolonged depression.
美联储主席伯南克说，美国国际集团的破产将使已经严峻的金融危机雪上加霜，甚至可能会使经济衰退恶化成长期萧条。
"Its failure could have resulted in a 1930s-style global financial and economic meltdown, with catastrophic implications for production, income and jobs," he said.
“美国国际集团的失败可能会导致我们陷入上个世纪30年代那样的全球金融和经济崩溃。这对于生产、收入、和就业都将造成灾难性打击。”
Several members of Congress, including Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, echoed Secretary Geithner's call for reform. The secretary promised to provide details of the plan in coming days.
包括金融服务委员会主席巴尼.弗兰克在内的几名议员赞同盖特纳财长有关改革金融监管授权的呼吁。盖特纳承诺在未来几天内向国会提交改革方案细节。 |