美国国家公共电台 NPR Words You'll Hear: Dodd-Frank

 

LAKSHMI SINGH, HOST:

We're going to head back to the U.S. now for Words You'll Hear. That's where we try to understand stories in the news by parsing¹ words connected to it. Today, the words are Dodd-Frank. That's the 2010 law that gave Wall Street new rules of the road to prevent another recession.

Last week, the House passed a Republican bill rolling back large parts of Dodd-Frank. While that bill isn't expected to go far in the Senate, the move could build momentum² for other changes. To find out more, we reached Raj Date. He's a former deputy director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and, now, runs a small investment firm called Fenway Summer. I began by asking him to remind us what Dodd-Frank does.

RAJ DATE: Let me just clear up the first confusion that people might have. Like, what is a Dodd, and what is a Frank? It's the name of the big Wall Street reform package, named after the head of the Senate Banking³ Committee at the time and the head of the House Financial Services Committee at the time, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. If you think back - and, hopefully, people can still remember - the sort of calamitous⁴ financial crisis that faced the United States - and, indeed, the world - back in 2007, 2008, 2009. Unemployment doubled. Millions of people lost their homes.

It was bad on pretty much every way in which you would evaluate the performance of the financial system. We had terrible decisions that were made. We had firms that were close to bankruptcy⁵ and insolvency⁶ as a result. We had a system that allowed one firm's problems to metastasize and affect other firms. And then, finally, we had regulators that seemed to be one or two steps behind every step of the way. And so what Dodd-Frank essentially⁷ tried to do is take a universal approach to changing Wall Street and banking regulation that would fix each of those problems.

SINGH: So what's your take on the House bill to undo⁸ parts of Dodd-Frank?

DATE: Number one, it suffers from mischaracterizing the impact of Dodd-Frank. The bank systems bigger, it's more profitable, better capitalized. Oh, and by the way, consumers have better credit scores than they ever have. Household balance sheets have improved. Unemployment is low. So it rests on a series of premises⁹ that are not exactly true. And then, it systematically¹⁰ dismantles¹¹ some of the most important bulwarks¹² put in place by Dodd-Frank.

So, for example, Dodd-Frank sought to create standards to prevent really bad decisions from being made. Well, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is something that was meant to look out for actual households and actual consumers and protect them from some of the most scandalously terrible ideas in the pre-crisis mortgage market. Well, this bill, the Choice Act, eviscerates¹³ the authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Dodd-Frank was meant to create more resilient banks through things like stress tests and the so-called Volcker Rule. The Choice Act eviscerates those things.

SINGH: The debate that's underway on the fate of Dodd-Frank - as an average person, what do I stand to lose, and what do I stand to gain under any changes that occur to Dodd-Frank under this House bill or any potential compromise?

DATE: So the biggest thing that households have to lose is to have a very large, very important financial sector¹⁴ to once again get completely unmoored from what are sensible ways to structure products and offer them to customers. Remember at ground zero of the financial crisis, were individual mortgages made to individual households that never had a prayer of being repaid. These should be worried, as average households, about whether or not that set of practices and that kind of thinking left unrestricted will return.

The best thing to gain is if we can reintroduce sensible risk taking into a bank sector that, in some areas, appears to have withdrawn¹⁵ from it. By that, I mean, the banking system is meant to take risks. When you make a loan to a small business - we're investors¹⁶ in platforms that make loans to small businesses - that's risky¹⁷. Small businesses are - what's the word? - small. And it's - they are not especially resilient to recessions. But you should want them to be able to borrow money to be able to build their franchises¹⁸ to be able to hire people to be able to put more work into the communities in which they serve.

SINGH: That's Raj Date. He's the former deputy director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He joined us in studio. Raj, thank you so much.

DATE: Thank you for having me.

1 parsing   

n.分[剖]析，分解v.从语法上描述或分析（词句等）( parse的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A parsing program, or parser, is also called a recognizer. 分析过程又称作识别程序。 来自辞典例句
• This chapter describes a technique for parsing using the bottom-up method. 本章介绍一种使用自底向上方法的分析技术。 来自辞典例句

2 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

3 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。

4 calamitous   

adj.灾难的，悲惨的；多灾多难；惨重

参考例句：

• We are exposed to the most calamitous accidents. 我们遭受着极大的灾难。 来自辞典例句
• Light reveals the subtle alteration of things, the sly or calamitous impermanence or mortal life. 事物的细微变动，人生的狡猾，倏忽无常，一一都在光中显露出来。 来自辞典例句

5 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

6 insolvency   

n.无力偿付，破产

参考例句：

• The company is on the verge of insolvency.该公司快要破产了。
• Normal insolvency procedures should not be applied to banks.通常的破产程序不应当适用于银行。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

9 premises   

n.建筑物，房屋

参考例句：

• According to the rules,no alcohol can be consumed on the premises.按照规定，场内不准饮酒。
• All repairs are done on the premises and not put out.全部修缮都在家里进行，不用送到外面去做。

10 systematically   

adv.有系统地

参考例句：

• This government has systematically run down public services since it took office.这一屆政府自上台以来系统地削减了公共服务。
• The rainforest is being systematically destroyed.雨林正被系统地毀灭。

11 dismantles   

拆开( dismantle的第三人称单数 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消

参考例句：

• This toy machine gun dismantles easily. 这种玩具机关枪很容易拆卸。
• By contrast, modern scepticism challenges nobody and dismantles only theories of change. 相反，现代的怀疑主义却并不质疑任何人，仅仅摧毁变革理论。

12 bulwarks   

n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 )；保障；支柱；舷墙

参考例句：

• The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty. 新闻自由是自由最大的保障之一。 来自辞典例句
• Surgery and X-irradiation nevertheless remain the bulwarks of cancer treatment throughout the world. 外科手术和X射线疗法依然是全世界治疗癌症的主要方法。 来自辞典例句

13 eviscerates   

v.切除…的内脏( eviscerate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

14 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。

15 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

16 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

17 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。

18 franchises   

n.（尤指选举议员的）选举权( franchise的名词复数 )；参政权；获特许权的商业机构（或服务）；（公司授予的）特许经销权v.给…以特许权，出售特许权( franchise的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ford dealerships operated as independent franchises. 福特汽车公司的代销商都是独立的联营商。 来自辞典例句