经济学人362:房利美与房地美

　　Finance and economics
财经商业
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
房利美与房地美
Deconstruction delays
关闭计划或搁浅
A flawed reform of America's housing-finance market
存在缺陷的美国房屋金融市场改革
房利美.jpg
A RARE area of agreement about the financial crisis of 2008 is that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were at the core of the meltdown and are in urgent need of reform.
关于2008年金融危机，几个少有的一致观点中就包括：房利美和房地美是这次灾难的主要原因，亟需整改。
On March 16th the leading Republican and Democratic members of thekey Senate Banking¹ Committee belatedly released a plan,
在3月16日，参议院银行委员会中几位主要的共和党和民主党议员发布了一份迟来的计划，
for restructuring the two publicly traded mortgage giants.
内容是整改这两家公开交易的抵押贷款巨头。
The plan has received widespread attention in part because it appears to address the most evident problems of Fannie and Freddie,
这份计划受到广泛关注的原因部分在于它或将解决两房最为显著的问题，
and because it is deemed likely to be approved by Congress.
部分则是普遍认为这份计划会在国会通过。
Yet neither of these assumptions, on deeper examination, seems to be true.
然而仔细一想，这两个假设似乎都很难实现。
To satisfy those who want low-priced mortgages on terms that private markets would never endorse²,
那些需要私有资本市场不会批准的低成本抵押贷款的民众应感到满足，
the plan makes explicit³ the government guarantee on debt which had been implicit⁴ for Fannie and Freddie.
因为这份计划明确表示政府将会对这些债务做出担保，而这曾是两房的潜在规则。
This would lower the interest rate on high-risk loans, while obscuring the cost of the subsidy⁵.
这一规定将降低高风险贷款的利率，同时使补贴成本难以计算。
To placate⁶ those who worry that this in turn would leave the government stuck with mountains of dud loans,
那些担心政府会因此接受大量不良贷款的人也不必紧张，
a 10% capital cushion must be provided by investors⁷ to absorb initial losses.
因为计划规定投资者们需要提供10%的资本缓冲来承担首次损失。
A fee of 0.1% would be charged on all mortgage-backed bonds, with the proceeds going to three funds, two pre-existing, that will provide subsidies⁸ for housing.
所有抵押保证债券将会收取0.1%的费用，这笔收费将交由三家提供房屋补贴的基金，其中两家已经存在。
An as-yet undetermined insurance charge will be levied⁹ on top.
另外还要征收一项保险费，其数额尚未确定。
The result, said Mike Crapo, the ranking Republican senator on the committee, would be a strong step forward to fixing our flawed housing system.
委员会中的资深资深共和党参议员Mike Crapo认为，这个结果将是改善我们充满缺点的住房体系的重要进步。
If only, say critics, who include investors and both friends and foes¹⁰ of Fannie and Freddie.
批评者，包括投资者以及两房的敌友机构认为，哪怕计划得以通过，也会带来很多问题。
The first objection is that the law would create an unwieldy bureaucracy,
第一个障碍就是该法规将催生一个运作迟缓的官僚体系，
with a regulator atop other entities¹¹ devoted¹² to overseeing functions such assyndicating loans or bundling the loans of small banks.
用一个监管机构来监督实体机构行使某些职能，比如银团贷款和捆绑小型银行的贷款。
When the plan was announced, the price of shares in Fannie and Freddie, which account for about two-thirds of the mortgage market, did not budge¹³ at first.
当这个计划被宣布时，拥有抵押贷款市场三分之二份额的房利美和房地美的股价并没有立刻发生变化。
Then they tanked—presumably because investors reached page 387 of the 442-page text,
之后却狂跌不止，或许是因为投资者终于把442页的文本翻到了387页，
and found enshrined in legislation an earlier 2012 order by the Treasury¹⁴ that expropriated from private investors all profits made by Fannie and Freddie.
发现了法律中深藏的一项财政部于2012年下达的命令：没收私人投资者从两房获得的利润。
The move is unlikely to help attract the private money needed to supply the 10% in equity¹⁵ underpinning¹⁶ bonds issued under the new plan.
这个命令可不会帮助吸引私人资本为新计划将发行的用以支持股票的债券提供10%的资金。
Opponents of Fannie and Freddie contend that the two played a key role in the crisis,
两房的竞争对手们认为，这两家利用好听的经济适用房的授权，
by encouraging the issuance of loans with tiny downpayments through a benign-sounding affordable¹⁷ housing mandate¹⁸.
鼓励发行首付极低的住房贷款，从而对金融危机负有很大责任。
Nothing much has changed. Under the new plan, downpayments of as little as 3.5% of the loan value would be permitted.
但在这方面却没有太大改变。新计划中，首付款可低至贷款的3.5%。
Strewn through the proposed law are words such as affordable, equal access and underserved communities,
该项被提议的法规中充斥着经济适用，同样途径和弱势群体这类词语，
which suggest that lending decisions will be based on political rather than credit criteria¹⁹.
表明关于贷款的决定将取决于政治因素而不是信用标准。
The result, says Edward Pinto of the American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank, will be risky²⁰ lending for those least able to cope.
智囊团美国企业协会的Edward Pinto表示，贷款给无法偿还者非常危险。
The underlying²¹ problem with the new plan is that, like Fannie and Freddie before it, it tries to reconcile two conflicting goals:
新计划的潜在问题和这份计划之前两房的行为一样，想要同时完成两个相冲突的目标：
protecting the financial system and providing low-cost housing loans to favoured groups. A better approach would be to handle these goals separately and explicitly²².
即保护金融体系，又想为特殊群体提供低花费的房屋贷款。将两个目前独立而明确地处理会是一个更好的方式。

1 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。

2 endorse   

vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意

参考例句：

• No one is foolish enough to endorse it.没有哪个人会傻得赞成它。
• I fully endorse your opinions on this subject.我完全拥护你对此课题的主张。

3 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

4 implicit   

a.暗示的，含蓄的，不明晰的，绝对的

参考例句：

• A soldier must give implicit obedience to his officers. 士兵必须绝对服从他的长官。
• Her silence gave implicit consent. 她的沉默表示默许。

5 subsidy   

n.补助金，津贴

参考例句：

• The university will receive a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence.那个大学将得到一笔人工智能研究的补助费。
• The living subsidy for senior expert's family is included in the remuneration.报酬已包含高级专家家人的生活补贴。

6 placate   

v.抚慰，平息(愤怒)

参考例句：

• He never attempts to placate his enemy.他从不企图与敌人和解。
• Even a written apology failed to placate the indignant hostess.甚至一纸书面道歉都没能安抚这个怒气冲冲的女主人。

7 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 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

8 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 levied   

征（兵）( levy的过去式和过去分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税

参考例句：

• Taxes should be levied more on the rich than on the poor. 向富人征收的税应该比穷人的多。
• Heavy fines were levied on motoring offenders. 违规驾车者会遭到重罚。

10 foes   

敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They steadily pushed their foes before them. 他们不停地追击敌人。
• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。

11 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

12 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

13 budge   

v.移动一点儿；改变立场

参考例句：

• We tried to lift the rock but it wouldn't budge.我们试图把大石头抬起来，但它连动都没动一下。
• She wouldn't budge on the issue.她在这个问题上不肯让步。

14 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• 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。

15 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

16 underpinning   

n.基础材料；基础结构；（学说、理论等的）基础；（人的）腿v.用砖石结构等从下面支撑（墙等）( underpin的现在分词 )；加固（墙等）的基础；为（论据、主张等）打下基础；加强

参考例句：

• Underpinning this success has been an exemplary record of innovation. 具有典范性的创新确保了这次成功。 来自辞典例句
• But underpinning Mr Armstrong's technology changes is a human touch. 但阿姆斯特朗技术变革的支柱是人情味。 来自互联网

17 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

18 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

19 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。

20 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

21 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

22 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法