美国国家公共电台 NPR--Some in Washington blame the bank failures on a rollback of landmark banking rules

Some in Washington blame the bank failures on a rollback of landmark¹ banking² rules

Transcript³

Democrats⁴ offer two different narratives⁵ on the regulatory failures that led to the collapse⁶ of Silicon⁷ Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Some Democrats in Washington blame the recent bank failures on a rollback of landmark banking regulations. Those regulations were meant to stop a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis. And this is what Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said when I asked her about it yesterday.

ELIZABETH WARREN: I warned, this is not going to work. This is not going to end well. And sure enough, we saw the consequences of that over the weekend.

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

Warren was talking about legislation in 2018 that decreased regulations known as Dodd-Frank. That had the effect of giving midsize banks a break. But after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, Warren and other Democrats want to turn back the clock.

FADEL: Carter Dougherty is with the left-leaning advocacy group Americans for Financial Reform. He says that 2018 decision wouldn't have happened without bipartisan support.

CARTER DOUGHERTY: The Senate being what it is, the bank lobby that supported this had to peel off a certain number of Democrats in order to get it through the Senate. And they did succeed in doing that.

FADEL: Sixteen Senate Democrats voted for what was called the Crapo bill, named after its sponsor, GOP Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho.

DOUGHERTY: Money does talk in Washington. There was a significant effort by commercial banks, especially in that 50 to $200 billion size range, that stood to benefit from the deregulation of the legislation.

PFEIFFER: Senator Chris Coons of Delaware was among the Democrats who voted to ease the rules for midsized banks. In a statement to MORNING EDITION, he told us it's not clear whether the old Dodd-Frank regulations would have made a difference. He also said relaxing some of those rules helped many community banks stay in business.

FADEL: Former Democratic Congressman⁸ Barney Frank agrees. He's the Frank in Dodd-Frank and a former board member of Signature Bank, which was shut down by regulators over the weekend.

BARNEY FRANK: 2018 didn't say no regulation or weak regulation. It said you wouldn't regulate a bank at 50 billion in assets the same way you would regulate a bank in several trillion. But they retain strong power to regulate.

PFEIFFER: Frank told NPR's All Things Considered that he believes investment in cryptocurrency contributed to Signature Bank's collapse. Frank says by shutting down that bank, regulators in New York were sending a message that, in his words, crypto is toxic⁹. Those are two different narratives on what went wrong, both coming from Democrats.

1 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

2 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 narratives   

记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分

参考例句：

• Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning. 结婚一向是许多小说的终点，然而也是一个伟大的开始。
• This is one of the narratives that children are fond of. 这是孩子们喜欢的故事之一。

6 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。

7 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

8 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

9 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。