40 George Soros—the financial crocodile

George Soros -- the financial crocodile

George Soros wants to be the Bono of the financial world. The speculator whose assault on sterling 1 ejected Britain from the European exchange rate mechanism 2 that September of 10 years ago has a mission－－to use his esti－mated ￡5 bn fortune and his fame to help tackle what he sees as the failures of globalisation. The idea that a man who made billions betting on the financial markets sides with the anti－globalisation movement might strike some as ironic 3. Soros is clearly genuinely appalled 4 at the damage wrought 5 on vulnerable economies by the vast sums of money which flow across national borders every day.

乔治·索罗斯想成为金融界的博诺（U２乐队主唱）。这位在10年前的那个９月份攻击英镑迫使英国退出欧洲汇率机制的投机商有一项使命---利用他大约50亿英镑的财产和他的声名来帮助解决他所认为的全球化失败问题。一个靠在全球金融市场上的投机赚了几十亿的人会支持反全球化运动，这对许多人来说是具有讽刺意义的。很明显，对于每天在各国之间流动的大量资金给经济脆弱国家造成的伤害，索罗斯从心底感到震惊。

"The US governs the international system to protect its own economy. It is not in charge of protecting other economies, "he says. "So when America goes into recession, you have anti－recessionary policies. When other countries are in recession, they don't have the ability to engage in anti－recessionary policies because they can't have a permissive monetary 6 policy, because money would flee. "In person, he has the air of a philosophy professor rather than a gimlet－eyed financier. In a soft voice which bears the traces of his native Hungary, he argues that it is time to rewrite the so－called Washington consensus－－the cocktail 7 of liberalisation, privatisation and fiscal 8 rectitude which the IMF has been preaching for 15 years. Developing countries no longer have the freedom to run their own economies, he argues, even when they follow perfectly 9 sound policies. He cites Brazil, which although it has a floating currency and manageable public debt was paying ten times over the odds 10 to borrow from capital markets.

　 索罗斯说："美国管理国际经济体系是为了保护本国利益，它并不负责保护其它国家的经济。因此，当美国陷入衰退后，美国会出台反衰退政策。而其他国家陷入衰退时，却无力这样做，因为这些国家不能实行自由开放的金融政策，否则资金就会外流?"索罗斯本人并不像一个目光敏锐的金融家，他更具有哲学教授的气质。带着匈牙利母语口音，他轻声地说，现在是修改所谓的"华盛顿共识"的时侯了。他指的是国际货币基金组织15年来宣扬的自由化、私有化和财政透明的综合体制。他说，发展中国家即使执行非常合理的政策，也不能再自由地控制本国经济。他援引巴西的例子说，尽管巴西实行了浮动汇率制和可控国债，但它向资本市场借款还是付出了比正常条件下高出１０倍的成本。

　Soros, who at one stage after the fall of the Berlin Wall was providing more assistance to Russia than the US government, believes in practising what he preaches.His Open Society Institute has been pivotal in helping 11 eastern European countries develop democratic societies and market economies. Soros has the advantage of an insider's knowledge of the workings of global capitalism 12, so his criticism is particularly pointed 13. Last year, the Soros foundation's network spent nearly half a billion dollars on projects in education, public health and promoting democracy, making it one of the world's largest private donors 14.

　 索罗斯在柏林墙倒塌后一段时间内向俄罗斯提供的援助曾一度超过美国政府的援助。他坚定地实施自己宣扬的观点。他的"开放社会研究所"在帮助东欧国家发展民主社会和市场经济方面发挥了重要作用。索罗斯具有业内人士的优势，了解全球资本主义的运行，因此他的批评会受到特别关注。去年索罗斯基金网络在教育、公共卫生、促进民主项目上花费了近５亿美元，使索罗斯基金成为世界上最大的私人捐助集团之一。

　Soros credits the anti－globalisation movement for having made companies more sensitive to their wider responsibilities."I think [the protesters] have made an important contribution by making people aware of the flaws of the system, "he says."People on the street had an impact on public opinion and corporations which sell to the public responded to that."Because the IMF has abandoned billion dollar bailouts for troubled economies, he thinks a repeat of the Asian crisis is unlikely.The fund's new"tough love"policy－－for which Argentina is the guinea pig －－ has other consequences. The bailouts were a welfare system for Wall Street, with western taxpayers 15 rescuing the banks from the consequences of unwise lending to emerging economies. Now the IMF has drawn 16 a line in the sand, credit to poor countries is drying up."It has created a new problem－－the inadequacy 17 of the flow of capital from centre to the periphery 18, " he says.

索罗斯赞扬反全球化运动使各公司更加认识到自己更广泛的责任。他说："我认为（反对者们）作出了重要贡献，使大众意识到这个体系的缺陷。大街上的人们对舆论会有所影响，而向公众推销商品的公司也会对舆论作出反应?"由于国际货币基金组织已经拒绝向经济困难的国家提供数十亿美元的救济，索罗斯认为亚洲经济危机不会重演。国际货币基金组织"既爱又严"的新政策---阿根廷是该政策的试验品---带来了其他后果。西方纳税人挽救了银行因不理智地向新兴国家提供贷款造成的恶果，而国际货币基金组织的那些救济金则成了华尔街的福利制度。现在国际货币基金组织对贫困国家的贷款正在枯竭。索罗斯说："这就产生了一个新问题---资金从中心向周边流动不足。"

The one economy Soros is not losing any sleep about is the US."I am much more positive about the underlying 19 economy than I am about the market, because we are waging war not only terrorism but also on recession, "he says."Although we don't admit it, we are actually applying Keynesian remedies, and I am a confirmed Keynesian. I have not yet seen an economy in recession when you are gearing up for war."He worries that the world's largest economic power is not living up to its responsibilities."I would like the United States to live up to the responsibilities of its hegemonic power because it is not going to give up its hegemonic power, "he says."The only thing that is realistic is for the United States to become aware that it is in its enlightened self－interest to ensure that the rest of the world benefits from their role."

索罗斯最不担心的就是美国经济。他说："我对美国的经济潜力比对现在的市场更有信心，因为我们正在进行的战争不仅是对付恐怖主义，而且也是在向经济衰退开战。尽管我们不承认，但我们实际是在奉行凯恩斯主义药方，我是一个坚定的凯恩斯主义者。我从来没见过哪个国家在准备战事时还会陷入经济衰退。"他担心这个世界上最大的经济大国不能承担起自己的责任。他说："我希望美国能够承担起作为霸权国家的职责，因为美国不会放弃自己的霸权地位。惟一现实的是，美国应意识到，保证世界上其他国家能从他们自己所承担的角色中受益，显然是符合美国自身利益的。"By Charlotte Denny