背景资料：40年前的8月15日，美元与黄金分道扬镳。从此，美元是美元，黄金是黄金，美金不复存在。8·15这一天，值得全世界记住。连同这一天应当记住的是，美国总统尼克松宣布废除自“二战”后实行的美元金本位制时，35美元兑换1盎司黄金。 美元与黄金脱钩后，美国彻底进入了有恃无恐的高速印刷发行美元时代。失去了发行硬约束的美元，创造出了人类历史迄今最为庞大的全球货币规模。
+ o! ?/ A( W7 j9 `$ cLast Monday was the fortieth birthday of the United States dollar as a fiat currency-that is, a currency backed not by a precious metal, or something solid like it,but by the promissory authority of a government.On August15,1971,President Nixon, after a secret meeting at Camp David with his economic advisers,closed the gold window and effectively ended the gold standard. Henceforth, the Federal Reserve would no longer exchange other central bank’s dollars, or anyone’s, for gold at a fixed price. Instead, it could print as much money as it felt it needed to.
! A* h. }6 K. S1971年8月15日，当时的总统尼克松在结束了与其经济顾问在戴维营的密会后叫停了黄金美元兑换交易并果断终结了美元金本位制。自此，美联储不再接受其他央行及任何个人的美元兑换黄金业务，且他可以按需印刷发行货币。
4 l4 l9 T" ?# Y- d: d3 JForty, as anyone who has turned it can attest, is, at best, an occasion for ambivalence and, at worst, a bracing peek over the top of the hill.For its four-decade birthday, last week, Paper Dollar, Jr.,was confettied with grim statistics and hooted anew by goldbugs and critics of the Fed. The slide show of P.D.,Jr.’s life, to be sure, features some ugly bits--inflation,recession,rising unemployment,harmful speculation,ballooning debt. The regime of which the dollar is the centerpiece, in its role as the world’s reserve currency, is now teetering. It is a shadow of itself. Stooped and arthritic, it smells of mothballs and can no longer afford its beloved Swiss chocolates.It keeps forgetting our names and getting lost on the way home. Still, the average life expectancy for a flat currency is twenty-seven years; so, by that measure, the greenback has had a good run. Speech! Speech!
5 c& A, C" p* s8 a& ]( E. U伴随着低迷的经济数字和反不兑换纸币者及美联储批评家的言语攻击，我们小美元先生的四十岁生日过的是五味杂陈。小美同学这一路下坡的人生虽不长却早已污迹斑斑：通货膨胀，经济衰退，失业率攀升，市场有害投机，债务虚高。以美元这一世界储备货币为中心的货币系统正摇摇欲坠，真有点自作自受的意味。四十岁的小美元先生已经伛偻提携，步履蹒跚，浑身樟脑味，连最喜欢的瑞典巧克力都买不起了。他已忘掉我们的名字也认不得回家的路。当然，货币的平均寿命是二十七岁，从这个意义上说，美元已经算不错的了 。 # b8 p1 }9 t/ Z- j) e
词汇：greenback--美元的昵称
, d: T3 p) |$ F9 T1 v' t2 yfiat currency--不兑换纸币，由政府发行的不能兑换成黄金或白银的纸币，其购买力源于政府的权威和信誉 2 h4 e2 \, d6 G$ Y
goldbug--反不兑换纸币者
+ }& K& S8 b8 Y- K1 @- b$ m+ A7 y: }the Federal Reserve 美国联邦储备委员会 6 c. F8 o; g! r: g" z5 P4 O5 l+ x9 B& `% o
Standard&Poor 标准普尔（世界四大评级机构之一）
9 }" U0 D( N; j: qequity index 股票指数 |
发表于 2012-8-14 23:21:39
