美国国家公共电台 NPR--Learning from 2008, the Biden administration avoids the unpopular word: bailout

Learning from 2008, the Biden administration avoids the unpopular word: bailout

Transcript²

The last time the government stepped in and rescued banks to save the economy, the politics were toxic³. That's why Biden is branding the latest banking⁴ aid as a lifeline for small businesses and jobs.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The history of bank bailouts seems to be informing the way President Biden is approaching banks today.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

There's a history of anger. You may recall this. In 2008, the United States spent hundreds of billions of dollars to face the financial crisis, and people really did not like the spending. Congress even rejected the bailout once before passing it. And that anger lasted. It was the backdrop to the rise of the Tea Party movement on the right, Occupy Wall Street on the left, in the years that followed. And what came after that was Donald Trump⁵'s presidency⁶, built in part on anger against the government.

FADEL: Which could explain something the Biden administration is doing now.

INSKEEP: They have intervened in the banking sector⁷ after two regional banks failed recently, but they have insisted this is not a bailout.

NPR's Asma Khalid begins with a man who knows why.

ASMA KHALID, BYLINE⁸: Bob Inglis was a member of Congress from South Carolina. But in 2010, after a dozen years in office, he was overwhelmingly defeated by a fellow Republican.

BOB INGLIS: I'd committed various heresies⁹ against Tea Party orthodoxy. I committed the mortal sin of voting for TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, President Bush's rescue of the banks.

KHALID: The Tea Party had risen up in conservative circles - and in part out of anger at taxpayer¹⁰ dollars being used to bail¹ out banks. And Inglis says voters could not forgive him.

INGLIS: There was a sense that the public was picking up the bill for the bad behavior.

KHALID: That anger also gave birth to Occupy Wall Street. It united the right and the left and sparked an economic populism that some would say even led to the election of Donald Trump. And so when President Biden explained why his administration had stepped in to rescue Silicon¹¹ Valley Bank and Signature Bank, he did not utter the word bailout.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: No losses will be borne by the taxpayers¹². Let me repeat that. No losses will be borne by the taxpayers.

KHALID: Still, some Republicans, especially those eyeing a 2024 presidential run, were eager to point fingers at Biden.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DONALD TRUMP: Joe Biden is leading us toward a Great Depression. I've been saying it for a long time. There should be no bailouts.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TIM SCOTT: The greatest form of corporate¹³ cronyism¹⁴ that we've seen in a very long time.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MIKE PENCE: You have to connect this, too, to the failed policies of President Joe Biden and his administration on this economy.

KHALID: That was former President Donald Trump, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and former Vice¹⁵ President Mike Pence. But Republicans are not the only ones calling this a bailout. Even some on the left, like Adam Green with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, don't buy the administration's semantic argument.

ADAM GREEN: It's politically toxic for politicians in either party to be seen as bending the rules to favor the rich and powerful. And whether you call it a bailout or not, that's what is happening here.

KHALID: Green understands why the administration immediately acted, but he says a lot of people still think of the intervention¹⁶ as a bailout. And so Biden would be wise to focus on holding bankers responsible. Otherwise, he worries there could be consequences in 2024.

GREEN: I think it's an Achilles heel, potentially, if Democrats¹⁷ are left holding the bag for what's seen as a bank bailout while someone like Donald Trump or DeSantis come along and basically seize, absurdly, the mantle¹⁸ of economic populism.

KHALID: I asked a bunch of political analysts¹⁹ how this banking turmoil²⁰ could affect 2024. And frankly²¹, the consensus²² is that it is way, way too early to know. But beyond rhetoric²³, there are other policy lessons learned from the last big bailout in 2008. Jim Messina was a top aide to Barack Obama, and he points out that this most recent rescue is different.

JIM MESSINA: The shareholders²⁴ of the banks and the bondholders of the banks don't get made whole, and they go bankrupt. And I think that's an evolution from 2008, in part because of the politics.

KHALID: The other big political takeaway from 2008 is that the government needs to respond more quickly. Brendan Buck²⁵ was an aide to two former Republican leaders in the House, John Boehner and Paul Ryan.

BRENDAN BUCK: I think this administration probably realizes that the biggest risk is erring²⁶ on the side of doing too little and that if this is a moment that we get through because they act aggressively and it's forgotten about in a few months, then this is not a problem for them.

KHALID: In other words, the biggest risk in doing too little is that the bank failures spread, and that could alter the course of Biden's presidency.

Asma Khalid, NPR News.

1 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

6 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

7 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

8 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

9 heresies   

n.异端邪说，异教( heresy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• However, life would be pleasanter if Rhett would recant his heresies. 不过，如果瑞德放其他的那套异端邪说，生活就会惬意得多。 来自飘（部分）
• The heresy of heresies was common sense. 一切异端当中顶大的异端——那便是常识。 来自英汉文学

10 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

11 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。

12 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 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。

13 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

14 cronyism   

n.任人唯亲，对好朋友的偏袒

参考例句：

• Many small town mayor and city official practice cronyism.许多小镇的市长和大城市的官员都有任人唯亲的行为。
• Bringing business people into politics can also produce corruption and cronyism.商人从政也容易带来腐败和任人唯亲。

15 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

16 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

17 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》

18 mantle   

n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红

参考例句：

• The earth had donned her mantle of brightest green.大地披上了苍翠欲滴的绿色斗篷。
• The mountain was covered with a mantle of snow.山上覆盖着一层雪。

19 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

20 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

21 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

22 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

23 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

24 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

25 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

26 erring   

做错事的，错误的

参考例句：

• Instead of bludgeoning our erring comrades, we should help them with criticism. 对犯错误的同志， 要批评帮助，不能一棍子打死。
• She had too little faith in mankind not to know that they were erring. 她对男人们没有信心，知道他们总要犯错误的。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹