VOA慢速英语 2008 1129

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

What began more than a year ago is often described as "the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression." The downturn is bad, but it would have to get much worse to compare to the nineteen thirties.
　
In 1932, jobless and homeless men wait to get a free dinner at New York's municipal lodging¹ house during the Great Depression

Next October will mark the eightieth anniversary of what is generally considered the beginnings of the Depression.

In just two days the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost almost twenty-five percent of its value. The stock market continued to drop until July of nineteen thirty-two. By then, the Dow was about ninety percent below its high reached in September of nineteen twenty-nine.

The Dow hit its all-time high in October of last year. Since last year the Dow has lost about forty percent of its value -- even more for the Standard & Poor's index of five hundred stocks.

Like the Depression, the current crisis also involves falling property values. American housing prices fell by almost seventeen percent in the twelve months that ended in September.

Housing economist² Robert Shiller at Yale University has found that home prices fell by about thirty percent during the Depression. Then, as now, many people lost their homes because they could not pay their mortgage loans.

Today people borrow much more of the value of their homes than they used to. In fact, Professor Shiller estimates that ten million Americans owe more than their home is worth.

An estimated nine thousand banks failed during the Depression. Agencies that guarantee savings³ and supervise the financial system did not exist at the start. When banks failed, people lost everything. Fear of bank failures led people to withdraw their money, leading to more failures.

In nineteen thirty-three, Congress established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. It currently guarantees bank deposits up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars.

Just twenty-two banks have failed this year. But among them was Washington Mutual⁴, the biggest bank collapse⁵ in American history.

Possibly the best measure of an economic crisis is unemployment. The rate in October was reported at a fourteen-year high of six and one-half percent. Some think it could reach eight percent or higher. During the Depression, however, one of every four workers was unemployed⁶.
　
President Franklin D. Roosevelt at his desk at the White House in 1933

President Franklin Roosevelt and Congress established agencies to employ people in public works. Yet employment did not completely recover until World War Two.

Policy mistakes increased the effects of the Depression. For example, the Federal Reserve let the money supply shrink. This meant there was less money available for lending to people and businesses.

In the current crisis, the government has been willing to spend freely; too freely for some critics. On Tuesday the Federal Reserve and the Treasury⁷ announced a new plan to provide eight hundred billion dollars to increase credit availability.

Before the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, the Dow and the S&P rose four days in a row for the first time in months.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

 

1 lodging   

n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍

参考例句：

• The bill is inclusive of the food and lodging. 账单包括吃、住费用。
• Where can you find lodging for the night? 你今晚在哪里借宿?

2 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

3 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

4 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

5 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

6 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

7 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。