时代周刊:美国如何落到今天这步田地?(6)（在线收听）

I played a role in this "antisocial" movement.

我在这场“反社会”运动中也扮演了一定的角色。

In 1979, I started a magazine called the American Lawyer,

1979年，我创办了一本名为《美国律师》的杂志，

which focused on the business of law firms and the intriguing questions lurking behind their elegant reception areas.

重点关注的是律师事务所的业务以及隐藏在它们体面的接待区背后的一些有意思的问题。

Which ones were best managed?

比如，哪些律所管理得最好？

Which offered the most opportunity to women or minorities?

哪些律所给女性和少数群体提供的机会最多？

Which were more likely to promote associates to partnership?

哪些律所员工转正的几率最高?

Which had the fairest or most generous bonus systems?

哪些律所的奖金制度最公平或最慷慨？

And, yes, which provided the highest profits for partners?

是的，还有哪些律所为合伙人提供的利润最高？

That last question resulted in the American Lawyer launching a special issue every summer, beginning in 1985,

为了探讨最后一个问题，我的杂志从1985年开始每年夏天都会专门发一期特刊，

in which we deployed reporters to pierce the secrecy of these private partnerships

通过派记者去破除这些私人伙伴关系背后的秘密，

so that the magazine could rank the revenues and average profits taken home by partners at the largest firms.

我们在这期特刊上对大公司合伙人拿回家的收入和平均利润进行了排名。

When the first survey was published, I received a call from a former classmate who practiced at a large Los Angeles firm.

初次调查结果公布后，我接到了在洛杉矶一家大公司工作的前同学打来的电话。

He was outraged because he—and his wife—had found out

他很生气，因为他——和他的妻子——发现，

that another classmate who worked at a seemingly fungible L.A. firm made about 25% more than he did.

另一位在洛杉矶差不多同性质的公司工作的同学的收入比他高出了25%左右。

Until then, they had been perfectly happy with his six-figure income.

在那之前，他们对他六位数的收入一直都是非常满意的。

The fallout from this report and those from similar trade publications was significant and double-edged.

这份报告以及类似贸易出版物的影响是显著的，但也有其两面性。

The new flow-of-market information about these businesses

关于这些企业 的新信息

made those who ran them more accountable to their partners, their employees and their clients,

使企业主对他们的合作伙伴、员工和客户都更加负责了，

but it also transformed the practice of law by the country's most talented lawyers in ways that had significant drawbacks.

但它也以明显存在缺陷的方式改变了这个国家最有才华的律师的法律实践。

The emphasis was now fully on serving those clients who could pay the most.

导致他们现在将重点完全放在了服务那些能付钱最多的客户上。

THE MERITOCRACY'S ASCENT WAS ABOUT MORE THAN PERsonal profit.

精英统治的崛起关乎的不仅仅是个人利益的问题。

As my generation of achievers graduated from elite universities and moved into the professional world,

随着我们这一代的成功人士从精英大学毕业进入职场，

their personal successes often had serious societal consequences.

他们个人的成功往往带来了严重的社会后果。

They upended corporate America and Wall Street with inventions in law and finance

他们用法律和金融领域的发明创建了一个依靠四处转移资产的交易而非创建新资产的交易建立起来的经济体，

that created an economy built on deals that moved assets around instead of building new ones.

他们就用这样的发明颠覆了美国企业界和华尔街。

They created exotic, and risky, financial instruments,

他们创造了奇异且高风险的金融工具，

including derivatives and credit default swaps, that produced sugar highs of immediate profits

如金融衍生品和信用违约掉期(cds)，给消费者许下了立竿见影的高额利润的美梦，

but separated those taking the risk from those who would bear the consequences.

但又把承担风险的人和承担后果的人分开了。

They organized hedge funds that turned owning stock into a minute-by-minute bet rather than a long-term investment.

他们组建对冲基金，把持有股票变成按秒计算的押注而不是长期的投资。

They invented proxy fights, leveraged buyouts and stock buybacks that gave lawyers and bankers a bonanza of new fees

他们发明代理权之争、杠杆收购和股票回购，给律师和银行家带来了巨额的费用，

and maximized short-term profits for increasingly unsentimental shareholders,

将越来越冷静的股东的短期利润最大化，

but deadened incentives for the long-term growth of the rest of the economy.

却也抑制了对经济体内其他主体的长期增长的激励。