The Bush administration is asking Congress to let the U.S. government buy $700 billion in bad debt. The huge bailout is designed to calm the turmoil on the world's financial markets. Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama says he supports the plan.
布什政府提请国会准许美国政府购买价值7千亿美元的不良贷款。美国政府采取这个庞大的救市措施，是为了平息世界金融市场的动荡。民主党总统候选人奥巴马表示，他支持这项计划。
The proposal introduced on Friday would give the government power to buy bad debt, such as mortgages that can not be paid back, from any U.S. financial institution for the next two years.
星期五出台的这项提案将授权美国政府在今后两年里从美国的金融机构那里购买不良贷款，其中包括偿还不了的房屋贷款。
The White House and congressional leaders have said they hope the legislation can be passed as early as next week. Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have agreed to the broad outline of the program, and are working out the details. U.S. President George Bush says he will work with Congress to have the bill approved quickly.
白宫和国会领导人都表示，希望这项提案下星期就能获得通过。国会的民主党和共和党议员对提案的总体规划，都表示赞同，目前正在拟定有关的细节。布什总统表示，他将和国会一道努力，让提案迅速获得批准。
"The systemic risk was significant, and it required a significant response, and Congress understands that, and we will work to get something done as quickly and as big as possible," he said. "There is going to be hundreds of billions of dollars at risk. This is a big package, because it was a big problem."
布什总统说：“整个体制面临的风险非常大，因此需要非常强有力的反应，国会方面明白这一点，我们将尽可能地全力、快速地做出反应；面临风险的涉及数千亿美元；这是一个很大的计划，因为问题很大。”
Mr. Bush says this plan requires putting large amounts of taxpayers' money at risk, but a massive response was needed. "I will tell our citizens and continue to remind them that the risk of doing nothing far outweighs the risk of the package, and that, over time, we are going to get a lot of the money back," he said.
布什总统说，这项计划会使纳税人的巨额款项面临风险，但是现在采取大规模的应对措施。布什总统说：“我会告诉我们的人民，并且还会继续提醒他们，无所事事要承担的风险远比这个计划的风险要大得多。随著时间的推移，我们会收回其中大部分钱。”
The president says he recognized that Americans were beginning to lose confidence in the country's financial system, and that something had to be done.
布什总统说，他认识到，美国民众已经开始对美国的金融体制失去信心，因此有必要采取行动。
"The government needed to send a clear signal that we understood the instability could ripple throughout and affect the working people and the average family, and we were not going to let that happen," said President Bush.
他说：“政府需要发出一个明确的信息，这就是，我们知道目前的不稳定可能会扩散到其他方面，而且还可能会影响到普通老百姓。我们是不会允许这种情况发生。”
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama says he supports the efforts of the Bush administration's Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, and Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, to solve the crisis. In his party's radio address, Obama urged the administration and Congress to follow basic economic principles to restore prosperity to all Americans.
美国民主党总统候选人奥巴马表示，他支持财政部长保尔森和美国联邦储备委员会主席伯尔南克为解决目前的危机而付出的努力。在代表民主党对全国发表广播讲话的时候，奥巴马呼吁政府和国会遵守基本的经济规律，让所有的美国人重新享有繁荣。
"We need to help people cope with rising gas [gasoline] and food prices, spark job creation by repairing our schools and our roads, help states avoid painful budget cuts and tax increases, and help homeowners stay in their homes," he said.
奥巴马说：“我们需要帮助老百姓应对日益升高的汽油和食品价格，通过修建学校和道路创造就业机会，帮助各个州避免削减预算、避免提高税率，帮助买了房子的人继续拥有自己的房子。”
Obama also said the bailout should not favor any particular financial institution or officer.
奥巴马指出，政府在救市过程中，不应偏向特定的金融机构或个人。
"And we must also ensure that the solution we design does not reward particular companies or irresponsible borrowers or lenders or CEO's [corporate chief executive officers], some of whom helped cause this mess," he said.
他说：“我们还必须要确保，我们制定的解决方案不偏向某些公司、或不负责任的贷款人、或企业主管。一些企业主管实际上对眼下的这种情形是有责任的。”
Democrats want the rescue plan to include mortgage help to let struggling homeowners avoid foreclosures. They are also discussing attaching more middle-class assistance to the legislation, even though President Bush has asked lawmakers to avoid adding controversial items that could delay action.
民主党希望政府的救市计划中包括够帮助那些正在想尽办法、避免因拖欠贷款而被没收房屋的人。民主党人也在讨论将给予中产阶级更多补助的条款加入提案。但布什总统希望议员们不要添加有争议的条款，因为那样的话 ，会拖延采取行动的时间。
Relieved investors sent stocks soaring on Wall Street and around the world Friday, after the plan was announced. The Dow Jones industrial average gained more than three percent (368 points) on Friday.
星期五，美国政府宣布了上述计划之后，投资商们松了一口气，华尔街、乃至世界各地的股市都呈现出大幅上扬。道琼斯工业指数上升了368点，升幅超过百分之3。
Also, a bankruptcy judge in New York decided Saturday that Lehman Brothers can sell its investment banking and trading businesses to the British bank Barclays. America's fourth largest investment bank filed the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history on Monday, after Barclays declined to buy the entire company.
与此同时，纽约一个负责破产问题的法官星期六裁定，雷曼兄弟公里可以把它的投资和交易业务卖给英国的巴克莱银行，上星期一，由于巴克莱银行拒绝购买整个雷曼兄弟公司，导致美国第4大投资银行申请破产。 |