VOA慢速英语20061208a

ECONOMICS REPORT - American Competitiveness: Too Many Rules?By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Friday, December 08, 2006

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Last week, a committee released proposals to make America's publicly traded companies more competitive. The Committee on Capital Markets Regulation says costly¹ and complex rules hurt the position of the United States.


Treasury² Secretary Henry Paulson sees danger from ''ever-expanding'' rules

The committee is a private group of twenty-two leaders from areas including business, finance, law and accounting³. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson praised the committee when it was announced in September.

Mister Paulson has recently warned of the danger to American competitiveness from, in his words, an ever-expanding rulebook. He says the costs of rules must be considered against the benefits. He is expected to hold a conference on this issue next year.

Hal Scott of Harvard Law School is the committee director. He says the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of two thousand two has created needless costs, especially for smaller businesses.

Congress wrote the law after accountants failed to uncover financial crimes at several big companies. Some, like Enron and WorldCom, went out of business. Investors⁴ lost millions.

Sarbanes-Oxley created the Public Company Accounting Oversight⁵ Board. The law also holds business leaders legally responsible for their company's financial statements.

Among other things, the law requires public companies to report yearly on their financial reporting controls. The committee says this rule, in the first year, cost businesses an average of more than four million dollars.

But some say proposals by the committee would weaken shareholder⁶ protections. For example, the report calls for limits on the amount of money that investors could recover from companies involved in wrongdoing.

Former treasury secretary Lawrence Summers says the committee was too centered on the issue of competitiveness. And New York Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer says he will fight the proposals.

Still, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox wants his agency to reconsider some rules based on their costs.

The World Economic Forum⁷ this year rated the United States sixth in competitiveness, behind smaller countries like Finland and Switzerland. But it was first among the largest economies.

Yet the committee says only five percent of the value of the world's newly offered stock last year was raised in the United States. In two thousand, it was fifty percent.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Bob Doughty⁸.

1 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

2 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。

3 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

4 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

5 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

6 shareholder   

n.股东，股票持有人

参考例句：

• The account department have prepare a financial statement for the shareholder.财务部为股东准备了一份财务报表。
• A shareholder may transfer his shares in accordance with the law.股东持有的股份可以依法转让。

7 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

8 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。