美联储前主席：“美国现在一团糟”

近40年前，美联储前主席保罗·沃尔克曾为控制美国通胀立下汗马功劳，10月23日他罕见地接受了《纽约时报》采访，对特朗普治下的美国政府和经济表示悲观和担忧。

沃尔克对《纽约时报》表示：“各方面都一塌糊涂。对政府的尊重、对最高法院的尊重、对总统的尊重都消失殆尽。连对美联储的尊重也没了……真的糟透了。好在军队还有威信。但我不知道，如果没有人相信领导机构，怎么去治理一个民主国家呢？”

91岁的沃尔克此番出面，是为了推广他最近写就的回忆录《坚持到底：追求健全货币和良好政府》（Keeping at It: The Quest for Sound Money and Good Government）。

沃尔克于1979年由时任美国总统卡特任命为美联储主席，1987年卸任。1980年3月美国通胀率达到14.8%时，沃尔克领导的美联储于1981年将联邦基金利率提高到了22%的高点，此举使美国经济陷入衰退，也迎来一个持续至今的低通胀时代。

他另一项很著名的工作是提出防止银行挪用消费者的存款投向风险资产的法案。该理念后来变成《多德-弗兰克法案》中的沃尔克规则，也成了大银行的眼中钉。虽然华尔街可能对沃尔克的一些想法和行为感到不满，但金融行业普遍都很尊重他。

在这本回忆录中，沃尔克讲述了1984年总统选举前和时任总统里根会面，当时里根要求他在大选前不要提高利率（沃尔克说自己本来也没这么打算）。他还说不明白为什么现在美联储把通胀目标定为2%。另外，沃尔克严厉批评了如今在华盛顿“扎堆”的游说者。

他对《纽约时报》表示：“关键问题在于我们让富豪当政。有一大堆极为富有的人，他们深信自己富有的原因是既聪明又积极。但他们不喜欢政府，也不喜欢纳税。”（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

审校：夏林

Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve Chairman credited with taming U.S. inflation nearly four decades ago, gave a rare interview on October 23 to the New York Times in which he expressed his pessimism and concerns about the U.S. government and economy during the Trump administration.

“We’re in a hell of a mess in every direction,” Volcker told the Times. “Respect for government, respect for the Supreme Court, respect for the president, it’s all gone. Even respect for the Federal Reserve…. And it’s really bad. At least the military still has all the respect. But I don’t know, how can you run a democracy when nobody believes in the leadership of the country?”

The 91-year-old Volcker made the comments while promoting a memoir he recently completed, “Keeping at It: The Quest for Sound Money and Good Government.”

Volcker was named Fed Chairman by President Carter in 1979 and served until 1987. As the U.S. inflation rate reached 14.8% in March 1980, Volcker’s Fed raised the federal funds rate to as high as 22% in 1981, pushing the U.S. economy into a recession but ushering in an era of lower inflation that has endured ever since.

He’s also known for proposing legislation to prevent banks from using customer deposits in risky investments. The idea became the Volcker Rule in the Dodd-Frank Act, as well as a thorn in the side of big banks. While Wall Street may chafe at some of Volcker’s ideas and actions, he’s widely held in high regard in the financial industry.

In his memoir, Volcker recounts a meeting with President Reagan before the 1984 Presidential election in which Volcker was ordered to not raise interest rates before the election (Volcker said he had no such plans). He also said he puzzled by the current Fed’s use of a 2% inflation target. And his harshest words were for the “swamp” of lobbyists in Washington today

“The central issue is we’re developing into a plutocracy,” Volcker told the Times. “We’ve got an enormous number of enormously rich people that have convinced themselves that they’re rich because they’re smart and constructive. And they don’t like government, and they don’t like to pay taxes.”