时间:2019-01-11 作者:英语课 分类:VOA慢速英语2008年(九)月


英语课

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.


This week, the government took control of America's two biggest housing finance companies. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are under conservatorship. This process of supervision 1 will continue until the new Federal Housing Finance Agency decides they are back in financial health.
 
Treasury 2 Secretary Henry Paulson, left, speaks during a news conference with Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart in Washington on Sunday


In July, Congress gave the Treasury new powers to save them, using as much money as needed. At first, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he had no plans to use those powers.


But on Sunday he announced that new findings about the condition of the companies forced action. He said a failure of either would shake financial markets at home and around the world.


Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy loans from lenders to provide more money for housing finance. They own or guarantee five trillion dollars in debt and securities. They keep some loans but resell others as mortgage-backed securities. These are held by central banks and other investors 3 worldwide.


As the housing and credit crisis deepened, Fannie and Freddie have had trouble raising capital to cover bad loans. The government saw a risk to the financial system.


As part of the rescue, the Treasury plans to buy at least five billion dollars of their mortgage-backed securities. And it plans to buy up to one hundred billion dollars of preferred stock in each company.


The Federal Reserve will also lend money as needed.


Critics say taxpayers 4 could lose a lot. But Treasury officials say the plan should save money in the long term, and might even bring a profit.


Each company will give the Treasury one billion dollars in stock that pays at least ten percent a year. And the Treasury could buy up to eighty percent of their common stock if it chooses. Under the takeover, existing owners of common stock will lose most of their investment.


Mortgage interest rates dropped this week following the takeover. Marc Savitt, president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers 5, called it a good sign for the housing market.


Yet Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac still face a conflict between serving a public interest and a private one. Congress created them so more Americans could buy houses. Then Congress made them into shareholder-owned companies.


Some people say, nationalize them. Others say, break them up into new companies without any government support, or sell them to other businesses.


And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.


 



n.监督,管理
  • The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
  • The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。
n.宝库;国库,金库;文库
  • 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。
n.投资者,出资者( investor的名词复数 )
  • a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
  • a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会
纳税人,纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )
  • Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
  • She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。
n.(股票、外币等)经纪人( broker的名词复数 );中间人;代理商;(订合同的)中人v.做掮客(或中人等)( broker的第三人称单数 );作为权力经纪人进行谈判;以中间人等身份安排…
  • The firm in question was Alsbery & Co., whiskey brokers. 那家公司叫阿尔斯伯里公司,经销威士忌。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
  • From time to time a telephone would ring in the brokers' offices. 那两排经纪人房间里不时响着叮令的电话。 来自子夜部分
学英语单词
A.P.C. (automatic power control)
actinomucor repens
ad hoc on-demand distance vector
ammonia ash
angiulo
anomalous line condition received
autotronic system
AVRCP
Badenheim
badger dog
balmifying
beck's hydrometer
Buckley ga(u)ge
commutation of penalty
comparative feeding experiment
compositive criteria
contracted curvature tensor
croson
curator-in-charge
cyclophosphamide(CP)
deleterious substances
design transition temperature
diluent agent
distelfinks
doltons
dry blast cleaning
duodena
empurple
entertainments tax
equivalent multiply rate
Euro-farmer
exit phase
extra bright
fulminants
grip strength
gyrostabilizers
hallettsville
hamsin
hemorrhagic white eye
heteropatriarchy
high annealing
hoarsened
human factors evaluation
inductive loop detector
krashen
Lagrange-Hamilton theory
legal situation
licuala spinosa
long-period test
Loose Credit
lyncury
machinery repairman
macrophthalmus abbreviatus
magnetic amplifier type magnetic core circuit
metritic
Mount Juliet
nagal
near drowning
Negri Sembilan
oblique grooving iron
orthogonal orthomorphism
overconnected
patinoes
pennsylvanias
Pinkertonian
planty
pnictides
Politzer's plug
polyynic
preferential direction
regulation of water intake
responsible accident
rhacomitrium cucullatum broth
rhinolaryngological
roes
Roncal, V.de
Schneider Trophy
sclerotium oryzae
seeder unit
seropneumothorax
service completion time
silden
sour mushroom
sputum tubes
stimulation-escape
supress
synchronous optical transmission
taarof
taylers
telescopic belt conveyor
tend on/upon
tenthredo formosana
tetramerous flower
thiocarbazides
track start
transmarginal inhibition
triangular oscillation blade
tubular boiler
verminous abscess
vestas
wallet-size
within-participants design