布什關(guān)于金融危機的演講

布什關(guān)于金融危機的演講 英文版

Good morning. I thank Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Federal eserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and SEC Chairman Chris Cox for joining me today.

This is a pivotal moment for America’s economy. Problems that originated in the credit markets—and first showed up in the area of subprime mortgages—have spread throughout our financial system. This has led to an erosion of confidence that has frozen many financial transactions, including loans to consumers and to businesses seeking to expand and create jobs. As a result, we must act now to protect our nation’s economic health from serious risk.

There will be ample opportunity to debate the origins of this problem. Now is the time to solve it. In our nation’s history, there have been moments that require us to come together across party lines to address major challenges. This is such a moment. Last night, Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke and Chairman Cox met with congressional leaders of both parties—and they had a very good meeting. I appreciate the willingness of congressional leaders to confront this situation head on.

Our system of free enterprise rests on the conviction that the federal government should interfere in the marketplace only when necessary. Given the precarious state of today’s financial markets—and their vital importance to the daily lives of the American people—government intervention is not only warranted, it is essential.

In recent weeks, the federal government has taken a series of measures to help promote stability in the overall economy. To avoid severe disruptions in the financial markets and to support home financing, we took action to address the situation at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Federal Reserve also acted to prevent the disorderly liquidation of the insurance company AIG. And in coordination with central banks around the world, the Fed has injected much-needed liquidity into our financial system.

These were targeted measures designed primarily to stop the problems of individual firms from spreading even more broadly. But more action is needed. We must address the root cause behind much of the instability in our markets—the mortgage assets that have lost value during the housing decline and are now restricting the flow of credit. America’s economy is facing unprecedented challenges, and we are responding with unprecedented action.

Secretary Paulson, Chairman Bernanke, and Chairman Cox have briefed leaders on Capitol Hill on the urgent need for Congress to pass legislation approving the federal government’s purchase of illiquid assets, such as troubled mortgages, from banks and other financial institutions. This is a decisive step that will address underlying problems in our financial system. It will help take pressure off the balance sheets of banks and other financial institutions. It will allow them to resume lending and get our financial system moving again.

Additionally, the federal government is taking several other steps to address the trouble of our financial markets.

The Department of the Treasury is acting to restore confidence in a key element of America’s financial system—money market mutual funds. In the past, government insurance was not available for these funds, and the recent stresses on the markets have caused some to question whether these investments are safe and accessible. The Treasury Department’s actions address that concern by offering government insurance for money market mutual funds. For every dollar invested in an insured fund, you will be able to take a dollar out.

The Federal Reserve is also taking steps to provide additional liquidity to money market mutual funds, which will help ease pressure on our financial markets. These measures will act as grease for the gears of our financial system, which were at risk of grinding to a halt. They will support the flow of credit to households and businesses.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued new rules temporarily suspending the practice of short selling on the stocks of financial institutions. This is intended to prevent investors from intentionally driving down particular stocks for their own personal gain. The SEC is also requiring certain investors to disclose their short selling, and has launched rigorous enforcement actions to detect fraud and manipulation in the market. Anyone engaging in illegal financial transactions will be caught and persecuted.

Finally, when we get past the immediate challenges, my administration looks forward to working with Congress on measures to bring greater long-term transparency and reliability to the financial system—including those in the regulatory blueprint submitted by Secretary Paulson earlier this year. Many of the regulations governing the functioning of America’s markets were written in a different era. It is vital that we update them to meet the realities of today’s global financial system.

The actions I just outlined reflect the considered judgment of Secretary Paulson, Chairman Bernanke, and Chairman Cox. We believe that this decisive government action is needed to preserve America’s financial system and sustain America’s overall economy. These measures will require us to put a significant amount of taxpayer dollars on the line. This action does entail risk. But we expect that this money will eventually be paid back. The vast majority of assets the government is planning to purchase have good value over time, because the vast majority of homeowners continue to pay their mortgages. And the risk of not acting would be far higher. Further stress on our financial markets would cause massive job losses, devastate retirement accounts, and further erode housing values, as well as dry up loans for new homes and cars and college tuitions. These are risks that America cannot afford to take.

In this difficult time, I know many Americans are wondering about the security of their finances. Every American should know that the federal government continues to enforce laws and regulations protecting your money. Through the FDIC, every savings account, checking account, and certificate of deposit is insured by the federal government for up to $100,000. The FDIC has been in existence for 75 years, and no one has ever lost a penny on an insured deposit—and this will not change.

America’s financial system is intricate and complex. But behind all the technical terminology and statistics is a critical human factor—confidence. Confidence in our financial system and in its institutions is essential to the smooth operation of our economy, and recently that confidence has been shaken. Investors should know that the United States government is taking action to restore confidence in America’s financial markets so they can thrive again.

In the long run, Americans have good reason to be confident in our economic strength. America has the most talented, productive, and entrepreneurial workers in the world. This country is the best place in the world to invest and do business. Consumers around the world continue to seek out American products, as evidenced by record-high exports. We have a flexible and resilient system that absorbs challenges and makes corrections and bounces back.

We’ve seen that resilience over the past eight years. Since 2001, our economy has faced a recession, the bursting of the dot-com bubble, major corporate scandals, an unprecedented attack on our homeland, a global war on terror, a series of devastating natural disasters. Our economy has weathered every one of these challenges, and still managed to grow.

We will weather this challenge too, and we must do so together. This is no time for partisanship. We must join to move urgently needed legislation as quickly as possible, without adding controversial provisions that could delay action. I will work with Democrats and Republicans alike to steer our economy through these difficult times and get back to the path of long-term growth. Thank you very much.

布什關(guān)于金融危機的演講 中文版

早上好。我要感謝財政部長漢克·鮑爾森、聯(lián)邦儲備委員會主席本·伯南克和美國證券交易委員會主席查爾斯·考克斯今天的到來。

如今對于美國的經(jīng)濟來說，已經(jīng)到了一個關(guān)鍵時期。此次經(jīng)濟問題源自信貸市場——次級貸款首次出現(xiàn)的地方，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)蔓延到我們的整個金融體系。這導致了信任度的喪失，從而使許多金融貸款遭遇凍結(jié)，其中包括對消費者、對試圖擴大規(guī)模并創(chuàng)造就業(yè)機會的企業(yè)貸款。因此，我們現(xiàn)在必須行動起來，以確保我們國家的經(jīng)濟安全，使其免遭嚴重風險的威脅。

我們將有足夠多的時間來討論這次問題的起因，然而，現(xiàn)在當務之急是解決問題?；厮菸覀儑业臍v史，曾經(jīng)有過需要我們跨越黨派界限共同努力，解決我們所面臨的挑戰(zhàn)的時刻?，F(xiàn)在，我們再次面臨這樣的時刻。昨天晚上，鮑爾森部長連同伯南克和考克斯兩位主席共同會見了兩黨的最高領(lǐng)導人，進行了一次成功的會議商討。我很贊賞國會領(lǐng)導人在這種情況下能夠直面困難的行為。

我們的自由企業(yè)體系依賴于一個信念，即聯(lián)邦政府僅在必要的時候才對市場進行干預。然而，考慮到與美國人民日常生活息息相關(guān)的金融市場目前所處狀態(tài)，政府的介入不僅是合理的而且是必要的。

近幾周內(nèi)，聯(lián)邦政府已采取了一系列措施維護總體經(jīng)濟的穩(wěn)定。為避免金融市場受到嚴重破壞并支撐起家庭經(jīng)濟，我們采取措施解決房利美和房地美所發(fā)生的情況。美國聯(lián)邦儲備委員會也同樣采取行動防止美國國際集團保險公司破產(chǎn)。通過和世界各國的中央銀行相協(xié)調(diào)，美聯(lián)儲已經(jīng)向我們的金融體系注入了其急需的流動資金。

這些都是有針對性的措施，首要的目的是阻止發(fā)生在個別企業(yè)中的問題向更廣的范圍擴散，但是我們還需要采取更多的行動。我們必須解決隱藏在市場不穩(wěn)定表象后面的根本問題——抵押資產(chǎn)在房地產(chǎn)市場衰退期內(nèi)已經(jīng)失去了價值，轉(zhuǎn)而限制了信貸的流通。美國的經(jīng)濟正面臨著前所未有的挑戰(zhàn)，而我們正在以前所未有的行動予以回應。

鮑爾森部長、伯南克主席和考克斯主席已經(jīng)向國會領(lǐng)導們簡要介紹了通過立法，批準聯(lián)邦政府從銀行和其他金融機構(gòu)購置流動性資產(chǎn)的迫切性，這種流動性資產(chǎn)中就包括出現(xiàn)問題的抵押貸款。這個決定性的措施將致力于解決我們金融體系中的潛在問題。它將有助于減輕銀行和其他金融機構(gòu)間資產(chǎn)負債失衡的壓力，使它們能夠恢復信貸機制，讓我們的金融體系重新運轉(zhuǎn)起來。

此外，聯(lián)邦政府正在采取一些其他措施來應對我們金融市場上的困難。

財政部正在努力恢復人們對美國金融體系中一個關(guān)鍵因素的信心——貨幣市場共同基金。在過去貨幣共同基金無法得到政府的保險，可是近來市場上的壓力已經(jīng)引起了一些質(zhì)疑：這些投資是否是安全的、開放的?對此財政部已經(jīng)通過向貨幣共同基金提供政府援助做出了回答，順利化解了人們的擔憂。你們投入保險基金中的每1美元，都能夠分文不差地提取出來。

聯(lián)邦儲備委員會也在采取措施，為貨幣市場儲備金的流動性提供更好的環(huán)境或平臺，這將有助于緩解我們在金融市場上的壓力。這些措施將像潤滑劑那樣，使我們被這次風險壓制得幾近停滯的金融體系齒輪轉(zhuǎn)動起來，它們將會支撐著貸款流向家庭和企業(yè)。

證券管理委員會已經(jīng)出臺新的規(guī)定，暫時禁止賣空金融機構(gòu)股票，這是為了防止投機商故意壓低特定股票的價格為自己謀取私利。證券交易委員會還要求某些投資者披露他們的賣空行為，并開始采取嚴格的強制手段，用來查明市場上的欺詐和操縱行為。所有從事違法金融交易的人都將受到最嚴厲的制裁。

最終，在我們順利地通過這次挑戰(zhàn)之后，我的管理團隊期待與國會合作，為給我們的金融體系帶來更加長久的透明度與穩(wěn)固性而共同努力——包括鮑爾森部長在今年早期提出的管理藍圖中的那些項目。在歷史中，許多支配著美國市場運作的法規(guī)被固定下來，重要的是我們要及時地更新它們，以便適應當今全球金融體系的現(xiàn)狀。

剛才我所略述的行動和措施如實地反映了鮑爾森部長、伯南克主席和考克斯主席的想法。我們相信這一決定性的政府措施，對于保護美國的金融體系和維持美國的整體經(jīng)濟是必要的。這些措施需要我們冒著失敗的風險投入大筆稅收，實施這些行動也需要承擔風險，但是我們認為這些資金最終能夠收到回報。政府計劃購買的巨額資產(chǎn)不久將會帶來良好的收益，因為大多數(shù)的房主依然在繼續(xù)償還他們的貸款。反之，如果不采取行動，危險會更大——金融市場上的壓力會導致大規(guī)模的失業(yè)、退休金賬目的侵蝕、房屋價值的進一步降低，并且造成新建住房、汽車和大學學費貸款的枯竭。這些都是美國無法承擔的風險。

在這個困難的時期，我知道很多美國人都在擔心他們的財產(chǎn)安全。所有的美國公民都應當知道，政府依然在執(zhí)行法律法規(guī)保護你們的財產(chǎn)。通過聯(lián)邦存款保險公司，每一個儲蓄賬戶、支票賬戶和存款憑證都得到了聯(lián)邦政府高達10萬美元的保險。聯(lián)邦存款保險公司已經(jīng)存在了七十五年，沒有人曾在這種保險的儲蓄下失去過1分錢——這一點今后也不會改變。

美國的金融體系雖然是錯綜復雜的，但是在所有的技術(shù)術(shù)語和統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)的背后，存在著一個關(guān)鍵的人性因素——信心。在我們的金融體系和金融制度中，信心對于我們經(jīng)濟的平穩(wěn)運作是必不可少的，但是近來這種信心卻發(fā)生了動搖。投資者們應該知道，美國政府正在努力恢復人們對美國金融市場的信心，使它能夠重振雄風。

從長遠來看，美國人民應該有理由相信我們的經(jīng)濟實力。美國擁有全世界最具才能、最高產(chǎn)、最善于創(chuàng)業(yè)的工人。這個國家是世界上最有利于投資和做生意的地方。全世界的消費者還在繼續(xù)尋找著美國的產(chǎn)品，創(chuàng)紀錄的出口額就是有力的證據(jù)。我們擁有一個靈活、彈性的體系，直面各種挑戰(zhàn)，做出積極改進并能迅速恢復功能。

在過去的八年中，我們已經(jīng)看到了美國經(jīng)濟的這種恢復能力。自2001年以來，我們就面臨著經(jīng)濟衰退、互聯(lián)網(wǎng)泡沫的破裂、大量的企業(yè)丑聞、針對我國的前所未有的恐怖襲擊、全球性的反恐戰(zhàn)爭，以及一系列破壞性的自然災害。然而，我們的經(jīng)濟承受住了所有的這些考驗，并且依然在前進。

這一次，我們也同樣會安全地度過難關(guān)，為此我們必須要團結(jié)一致。這是一個需要摒棄黨派偏見的時期。我們必須聯(lián)合起來，盡快建立迫切需要的法律法規(guī)，不要加入那些會延緩我們行動的爭議性的條款。我會無差別地同民主黨和共和黨一起合作，駕馭我們的經(jīng)濟安全地度過這個困難的時期，并使它回到長期增長的軌道上來。謝謝大家。