Paul Volcker

　　保羅沃爾克

　　Tall tale

　　偉人傳奇

　　The most influential central banker of the modernera

　　當代最具影響力的央行行長

　　Volcker: The Triumph of Persistence. By William Silber. Bloomsbury;

　　《沃爾克：金石為開》威廉希爾伯著;

　　ALAN GREENSPAN may be the most famous central banker of the modern era, but PaulVolcker has been the most influential. He played a crucial diplomatic role during thedeath of the Bretton Woods financial system in the early 1970s, which severed the linkbetween money and gold and ushered in floating exchange rates. As head of the FederalReserve from 1979, Mr Volcker then tamed the inflation that ensued, bringing monetarystability in the face of political opposition to the very high interest rates required. In doingso, he set the template for modern economic management, built around an independentcentral bank with an implicit, or explicit, inflation target.

　　歷任當代央行行長中，或許最知名的是艾倫格林斯潘，但最有影響力的則是保羅沃爾克。他于二十世紀七十年代初扮演著至關重要的外交角色，期間貨幣與黃金脫鉤、浮動匯率制被引入、布雷頓森林體系走向瓦解。1979年，沃爾克出任美聯儲主席。為了控制隨之而來的通貨膨脹，沃爾克不顧來自政治方面的反對聲音，大幅提高利率，帶來了貨幣穩定。借此，他構建了當代經濟管理模式，設立了具有明確/隱含通脹目標的一家獨立央行。

　　After serving at the Treasury under Richard Nixon, the towering Mr Volcker wasappointed to the Fed by both Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. More recently he has been anadviser to Barack Obama, who traded on the former Fed chief s credibility by dubbing hisplan to end banks proprietary trading the Volcker rule.

　　在尼克松政府的財政部工作過后，偉岸的沃爾克先生同時被吉米卡特和羅納德里根提名推薦到美聯儲。最近，他又成為了布萊克奧巴馬的顧問。奧巴馬利用這位前美聯儲主席的聲譽，將其提出的禁止銀行自營交易的計劃稱為沃爾克規則。

　　This long record of public service earns the admiration of William Silber, his newbiographer. Mr Volcker could have earned much more on Wall Street. Upon becoming headof the Fed, his salary was halved. To balance their domestic budget, his wife, , took a part-time job as a book-keeper and let a room in their flat. He smoked cheap cigarsbecause he could not imagine spending as much as $2 on a stogie. In later life, when hechaired investigations into the UN oil-for-food programme or Arthur Andersen, anaccountancy firm, he charged only a token $1 fee.

　　沃爾克的新自傳撰寫人威廉 希爾伯對其在公共服務的長期貢獻深表敬佩。沃爾克本可在華爾街賺得更多。他的薪水在其出任美聯儲主席時縮減了一半。為了平衡家庭收支，妻子芭芭拉當時從事著一份記賬員的兼職工作，并對外出租了他們公寓里的一個房間。沃爾克則抽著廉價的雪茄，原因是他最多肯為每支廉價雪茄支付2美元。后來，不論是在他負責聯合國有關 石油換食品計劃受賄案的調查項目時、還是出任安達信獨立監察委員會主席時，沃爾克都僅象征性地收取1美元作為薪酬。

　　Yet Mr Volcker still lacked the consolation of popularity, unlike Mr Greenspan, who waspraised by the press and politicians for much of his term. Democrats blamed Mr Volcker forlosing them the 1980 election because of his tight monetary policy. Milton Friedman sawhim as insufficiently monetarist, and many in the Reagan White House regarded him withsuspicion as a Democrat. Mr Volcker barely made it though his eight years at the Fed. Henearly failed to be reappointed in 1983 and almost resigned in 1986, when defeated on akey vote. It was only in retrospect that his reputation grew; Mr Silber s well-written bookshould help cement it.

　　即便如此，沃爾克仍然缺乏來自民眾的安慰;而格林斯潘在位期間，則常常受到媒體與政客的稱頌。民主黨人士認為，施行緊縮型貨幣政策的沃爾克要對他們1980年的落選負責。米爾頓弗里德曼認為沃爾克的貨幣主義沒做到位，而許多里根政府人士則對他的民主黨身份抱有質疑。八年的美聯儲生涯，沃爾克很少有一舉成功的時刻。1983年，他差點落選繼任美聯儲主席的提名;1986年則由于在一次關鍵性投票中落敗，近乎提出辭呈。只有在后人的回顧里，才能慢慢發現沃爾克的榮望所在;而希爾伯在其所著傳記里，應該很好地印證了這番觀點。

　　While Mr Volcker s record at the Fed is well-known, what might be more surprising is thecrucial role he played in the exchange-rate crises of the early 1970s. Like an economicHenry Kissinger, Mr Volcker shuttled around the world to placate foreign allies in the face ofNixon s marked indifference to international economics. I don t give a shit about the lira,was one of Tricky Dick s choice phrases.

　　沃爾克在美聯儲的任職經歷廣為人知，其更令人驚訝的，應是他于二十世紀七十年代早期在匯率危機中所扮演的重要角色。同經濟學家艾爾弗雷德基辛格相似，沃爾克穿梭于世界各地安撫國際同盟，盡管當時尼克松對國際經濟滿不在乎。我才不在乎什么里拉，摘自滑頭迪克語錄。

　　For decades politicians had mouthed their support for a strong currency, but Nixon cutthrough the claptrap. Volcker thinks we ought to sacrifice the domestic economy to savethe dollar, he said. I m not in favour of that. The dollar duly fell sharply in the 1970s,although it rebounded under Mr Volcker s tenure at the Fed. Mr Silber praises his subject forstabilising the currency and also for opposing Reagan s budget deficits. Whether he is rightto say that it was those deficits that pushed up real interest rates in the 1980s is harder totell; after all, deficits are even higher now and real rates are negative:

　　當時政客們已泛泛而談支持美元長達數十年，但尼克松一語打消了這種言不由衷的空談。沃爾克認為我們應該犧牲國民經來救美元，他稱。對此我并不贊成。這導致美元于二十世紀七十年代急速跌落，盡管后來由于沃爾克在位美聯儲而有所恢復。希爾伯對沃爾克致力于穩定貨幣、反對里根財政赤字的行為表示稱贊。是否如其所稱，二十世紀80年代時正是這些赤字推動了實際利率上揚，如今更加難以分辨;畢竟當今赤字更加高額，而實際利率卻為負值。

　　Perhaps the most remarkable fact about Mr Volcker is that he has spent much of his careerdealing with Wall Street without being captured by its influence. Mr Silber highlights hissubject s commitment to financial reform, but fails to mention one of his more pointed bonmotsthat the only useful modern financial innovation has been the automated tellermachine. Such robust cynicism about Wall Street, along with his links to the currentpresident, may explain why Mr Volcker is not a hero of the conservative movement,despite his anti-inflationary credentials.

　　沃爾克未受到華爾街影響，畢其大半精力與之斡旋， 這或許是他最杰出的功績。希爾伯強調了沃爾克對金融改革所做的貢獻，卻未提及他更為尖銳的箴言即當代唯一有用的金融創新就是自動提款機。對華爾街如此口出惡言，加之其與現任總統的關系，沃爾克即便有過多么光榮的反通脹傳奇也無法成為保守主義運動中的偉人了吧。

　　Paul Volcker

　　保羅沃爾克

　　Tall tale

　　偉人傳奇

　　The most influential central banker of the modernera

　　當代最具影響力的央行行長

　　Volcker: The Triumph of Persistence. By William Silber. Bloomsbury;

　　《沃爾克：金石為開》威廉希爾伯著;

　　ALAN GREENSPAN may be the most famous central banker of the modern era, but PaulVolcker has been the most influential. He played a crucial diplomatic role during thedeath of the Bretton Woods financial system in the early 1970s, which severed the linkbetween money and gold and ushered in floating exchange rates. As head of the FederalReserve from 1979, Mr Volcker then tamed the inflation that ensued, bringing monetarystability in the face of political opposition to the very high interest rates required. In doingso, he set the template for modern economic management, built around an independentcentral bank with an implicit, or explicit, inflation target.

　　歷任當代央行行長中，或許最知名的是艾倫格林斯潘，但最有影響力的則是保羅沃爾克。他于二十世紀七十年代初扮演著至關重要的外交角色，期間貨幣與黃金脫鉤、浮動匯率制被引入、布雷頓森林體系走向瓦解。1979年，沃爾克出任美聯儲主席。為了控制隨之而來的通貨膨脹，沃爾克不顧來自政治方面的反對聲音，大幅提高利率，帶來了貨幣穩定。借此，他構建了當代經濟管理模式，設立了具有明確/隱含通脹目標的一家獨立央行。

　　After serving at the Treasury under Richard Nixon, the towering Mr Volcker wasappointed to the Fed by both Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. More recently he has been anadviser to Barack Obama, who traded on the former Fed chief s credibility by dubbing hisplan to end banks proprietary trading the Volcker rule.

　　在尼克松政府的財政部工作過后，偉岸的沃爾克先生同時被吉米卡特和羅納德里根提名推薦到美聯儲。最近，他又成為了布萊克奧巴馬的顧問。奧巴馬利用這位前美聯儲主席的聲譽，將其提出的禁止銀行自營交易的計劃稱為沃爾克規則。

　　This long record of public service earns the admiration of William Silber, his newbiographer. Mr Volcker could have earned much more on Wall Street. Upon becoming headof the Fed, his salary was halved. To balance their domestic budget, his wife, , took a part-time job as a book-keeper and let a room in their flat. He smoked cheap cigarsbecause he could not imagine spending as much as $2 on a stogie. In later life, when hechaired investigations into the UN oil-for-food programme or Arthur Andersen, anaccountancy firm, he charged only a token $1 fee.

　　沃爾克的新自傳撰寫人威廉 希爾伯對其在公共服務的長期貢獻深表敬佩。沃爾克本可在華爾街賺得更多。他的薪水在其出任美聯儲主席時縮減了一半。為了平衡家庭收支，妻子芭芭拉當時從事著一份記賬員的兼職工作，并對外出租了他們公寓里的一個房間。沃爾克則抽著廉價的雪茄，原因是他最多肯為每支廉價雪茄支付2美元。后來，不論是在他負責聯合國有關 石油換食品計劃受賄案的調查項目時、還是出任安達信獨立監察委員會主席時，沃爾克都僅象征性地收取1美元作為薪酬。

　　Yet Mr Volcker still lacked the consolation of popularity, unlike Mr Greenspan, who waspraised by the press and politicians for much of his term. Democrats blamed Mr Volcker forlosing them the 1980 election because of his tight monetary policy. Milton Friedman sawhim as insufficiently monetarist, and many in the Reagan White House regarded him withsuspicion as a Democrat. Mr Volcker barely made it though his eight years at the Fed. Henearly failed to be reappointed in 1983 and almost resigned in 1986, when defeated on akey vote. It was only in retrospect that his reputation grew; Mr Silber s well-written bookshould help cement it.

　　即便如此，沃爾克仍然缺乏來自民眾的安慰;而格林斯潘在位期間，則常常受到媒體與政客的稱頌。民主黨人士認為，施行緊縮型貨幣政策的沃爾克要對他們1980年的落選負責。米爾頓弗里德曼認為沃爾克的貨幣主義沒做到位，而許多里根政府人士則對他的民主黨身份抱有質疑。八年的美聯儲生涯，沃爾克很少有一舉成功的時刻。1983年，他差點落選繼任美聯儲主席的提名;1986年則由于在一次關鍵性投票中落敗，近乎提出辭呈。只有在后人的回顧里，才能慢慢發現沃爾克的榮望所在;而希爾伯在其所著傳記里，應該很好地印證了這番觀點。

　　While Mr Volcker s record at the Fed is well-known, what might be more surprising is thecrucial role he played in the exchange-rate crises of the early 1970s. Like an economicHenry Kissinger, Mr Volcker shuttled around the world to placate foreign allies in the face ofNixon s marked indifference to international economics. I don t give a shit about the lira,was one of Tricky Dick s choice phrases.

　　沃爾克在美聯儲的任職經歷廣為人知，其更令人驚訝的，應是他于二十世紀七十年代早期在匯率危機中所扮演的重要角色。同經濟學家艾爾弗雷德基辛格相似，沃爾克穿梭于世界各地安撫國際同盟，盡管當時尼克松對國際經濟滿不在乎。我才不在乎什么里拉，摘自滑頭迪克語錄。

　　For decades politicians had mouthed their support for a strong currency, but Nixon cutthrough the claptrap. Volcker thinks we ought to sacrifice the domestic economy to savethe dollar, he said. I m not in favour of that. The dollar duly fell sharply in the 1970s,although it rebounded under Mr Volcker s tenure at the Fed. Mr Silber praises his subject forstabilising the currency and also for opposing Reagan s budget deficits. Whether he is rightto say that it was those deficits that pushed up real interest rates in the 1980s is harder totell; after all, deficits are even higher now and real rates are negative:

　　當時政客們已泛泛而談支持美元長達數十年，但尼克松一語打消了這種言不由衷的空談。沃爾克認為我們應該犧牲國民經來救美元，他稱。對此我并不贊成。這導致美元于二十世紀七十年代急速跌落，盡管后來由于沃爾克在位美聯儲而有所恢復。希爾伯對沃爾克致力于穩定貨幣、反對里根財政赤字的行為表示稱贊。是否如其所稱，二十世紀80年代時正是這些赤字推動了實際利率上揚，如今更加難以分辨;畢竟當今赤字更加高額，而實際利率卻為負值。

　　Perhaps the most remarkable fact about Mr Volcker is that he has spent much of his careerdealing with Wall Street without being captured by its influence. Mr Silber highlights hissubject s commitment to financial reform, but fails to mention one of his more pointed bonmotsthat the only useful modern financial innovation has been the automated tellermachine. Such robust cynicism about Wall Street, along with his links to the currentpresident, may explain why Mr Volcker is not a hero of the conservative movement,despite his anti-inflationary credentials.

　　沃爾克未受到華爾街影響，畢其大半精力與之斡旋， 這或許是他最杰出的功績。希爾伯強調了沃爾克對金融改革所做的貢獻，卻未提及他更為尖銳的箴言即當代唯一有用的金融創新就是自動提款機。對華爾街如此口出惡言，加之其與現任總統的關系，沃爾克即便有過多么光榮的反通脹傳奇也無法成為保守主義運動中的偉人了吧。