考研英语#2017-2025考研究生英语*经济学人*阅读#社论精粹私有化 ...

pcjis

Leaders
社论精粹
Privatisation
私有化
The $9 trillion sale
9万亿美元的大拍卖
Governments should launch a new wave ofprivatisations, this time centred on property
富裕国家的政府应当再掀起一股私有化浪潮，这次应当把重点放在土地和房产上。
IMAGINE you were heavily in debt, owned a large portfolio of equities and under-usedproperty and were having trouble cutting your spending—much like most Westerngovernments. Wouldn't you think of offloading some of your assets?
设想一下咨询QQ、微信：2544906的政府企业，以及差不多同等价值的在私营公司股权和地方政府手里的公用事业等其他资产。但这还算不上是真正值钱的，真正值钱的是那些“非金融性”资产，也就是房产，土地和地下资源。据国际货币基金组织测算，这部分家底的价值在35万亿美元左右，相当于富国平常年份GDP总和的四分之三。
Some of these assets could not or should not be sold. What price the Louvre, the Parthenon orYellowstone National Park? Murky government accounting makes it impossible to know whatportion of the total such treasures make up. But it is clear that the overall list includesthousands of marketable holdings with little or no heritage value.
不过，不是所有的家底都能卖的。有的不仅不应卖，而且不能卖。试想，谁能给卢浮宫，帕特农神庙或者黄石国家公园开个价呢?因此，准备出售家底的政府应该明白这样一个道理咨询QQ、微信：2544906。若以上情况属实，那么，富国政府真正是在坐拥“金山银山”。因为，仅可供出售的土地和房屋加起来就大约值9万亿美元，这几乎相当于他们GDP总和的五分之一。
Get on with it
卖吧!
Governments seem strangely reluctant to exploit these revenue-raising opportunities. That ispartly because privatisation always faces opposition. Particular sensitivities surround land, asRonald Reagan discovered when his plan to sell swathes of America's West were shot down bya coalition of greens and ranchers who enjoyed grazing rights, and as the British governmentfound in 2010 when environmentalists scuppered its attempt to sell Forestry Commission land.
但奇怪的是，当增收的机会就摆在眼前时，富裕国家似乎又有点拿不定主意了。究其原因，除了舍不得之外，最主要的是因为，政府在推行私有化时，总会遇到反对。土地买卖特别敏感。当里根准备出售美国西部土地时，他发现自己成了热爱游牧的绿色和平人士和农场主的攻击对象;当英国政府试图在2010年将林业委员会所属的土地卖给别人时，他们遭到了环保主义者的突袭。
In recent years the big transactions, apart from reprivatisations of rescued banks, have mostlytaken place in emerging markets. Activity is starting to pick up in Europe: the Britishgovernment sold Royal Mail last year, and is setting a good example both in transparencyover its land and property holdings and in its readiness to sell them. But, overall, cautionrules. Italy, for example, carries a public-debt burden of 132% of GDP, yet its privatisationplans are timid—even though the state has proportionately more to sell than most other richcountries, with corporate stakes worth perhaps $225 billion and non-financial assets worth asmuch as $1.6 trillion. Now that markets have regained their composure, it is time to be bolder.
但是，在看到新兴市场国家近年来一直在出售政府资产方面频出大手笔之后，欧洲终于也坐不住了咨询QQ、微信：2544906的股票和1.6万亿美元的非金融性资产。既然市场已经缓过劲来了，还犹豫什么呢?放开胆子卖啊!
There are ways of encouraging sales. Data collection on public property is shockingly poor. Itis patchy even in Scandinavia, where governments pride themselves on their openness.Governments need to get a better idea of what they hold. Effective land registries, givingcertainty to title, are essential: Greece's registry remains a mess. Too many governments usea flaky form of “cash basis” accounting that obscures the costs of holding property. Too fewproduce proper balance-sheets. Better beancounting would make it easier to ascertain whatmight be better off in private hands.
促进房产买卖有许多法子。公共房产和土地方面，数据的收集糟糕的要命。即便是以公开透明而自诩的北欧诸国政府在这个问题上也做得差强人意。政府对自己的家底应当有更清楚的认识。为了要让房产权有确定性， 有效的土地登记是不可少的：希腊的土地登记仍然是一团糟。太多的政府在房产的会计核算上采用一种不可靠的“现金制”， 这会模糊房产持有的成本。只有为数很少的政府对此提供适当的资产负债表。一个好的会计核算制度会让人们更容易确定哪些公房私买之后 比较合算。
Governments also need to sweat whatever remains in state hands. There is no single model formanaging public assets, but any successful strategy would include setting private-sector-stylefinancial benchmarks, replacing cronies with experienced managers and shielding them frompolitical interference. Not only is this good in itself, but it can also lead naturally toprivatisation. That was the case in Sweden a decade ago, when creating a professionallymanaged holding company for state assets revealed many to be non-core, leading to a sellingsplurge by a left-leaning government.
这样，在搞清土地和房产的情况之后，政府还要花大力气对剩余的家底进行一番整顿。公共资产的管理没有成例可循，但是若想成功，就必须为其设定新的基准，以私人投资的标准来要求公共资产，用经验丰富的资产管理者取代靠拉关系而上位的庸才，并且让这些人免受政治干扰。这种做法不仅本身有利于公共资产的管理，而且还能自然而然地公共资产的私有化。瑞典早在10年前就为我们树立了一个榜样。当时，在给政府资产建立一个由专业人士管理的控股公司的过程中曾发现许多资产属于非核心资产，为此，该国左倾的政府掀起过一股私有化大潮。
Where are the successors to Thatcher and Reagan?
学学里根和撒切尔
Privatisation is no panacea for profligate governments. Selling assets is a one-off thatprovides only brief respite for those addicted to overspending (though, once sold, assets—from ports to companies—tend to generate far more business). It also has to be weighedagainst lost revenue if the assets provide an income stream: oil-rich Norway gets a quarter ofits government revenue from well-managed state companies. Selling when markets aredepressed is generally a bad idea.
在私有化的过程中，各国政府应该注意一下三点。第一，私有化不是灵丹妙药。对挥霍无度花钱上瘾的政府来说，它只能解一时之痛，尽管卖掉港口和企业都会大大地促进商业的发展。第二，只要待出售的资产还能带来一点收入。政府就应该三思而后行。在这方面，挪威就是一个可供学习的榜样。虽说这个国家的是靠石油富裕起来的，但是政府的收入中有四分之一是来自于对国有企业的良好管理。第三，不要再市场不振时出售家底。
Governments also need to learn from mistakes made in past waves of privatisation. Withoutrobust regulation, sell-offs enrich insiders and lead to backlashes. That happened in Britain(over rail and utilities) and emerging markets (telecoms, banking and more). The Royal Mail salewas a reminder of the political risks: price an asset too high and the deal might flop; price ittoo low and the taxpayer feels cheated. Nevertheless, for governments that are serious aboutbringing their spending in line with revenues, privatisation is a useful tool. It allows governmentsto cut their debts and improve their credit ratings, thus reducing their outgoings, and itimproves the economy's efficiency by boosting competition and by applying private-sectorcapital and skills to newly privatised assets.
另外，富国政府还应从之前的私有化大潮中吸取经验和教训。他们必须明白，如果缺乏严格的监管，私有化就会变成内幕交易者牟利的机会，从而引发民众的不满。英国在出售铁路和公共事业时发生过这种事情，新兴市场国家在出售电信和银行等行业时也发生过这种事情。围绕着出售皇家邮政而发生的一系列事情提醒政府注意，私有化是要冒政治风险的：如果出价太高，协议可能会泡汤;如果出价太低，民众又会认为自己受骗了。尽管如此，政府还是应该把私有化当成是一个有用的工具。因为，对于真得想实现收支平衡的政府来说，他们可以借此降低债务，提高信用，从而达到减少开支的目的;他们可以借此鼓励竞争，可以借此用私人投资的标准来要求刚刚实现了私有化的国有资产，从而达到提高经济效率的目的。
Thatcher and Reagan used privatisation as a tool to transform utilities, telecoms andtransport. Their 21st-century successors need to do the same for buildings, land andresources. Huge value is waiting to be unlocked.
撒切尔和里根都曾经利用私有化的方式，将原本由政府运营的公用事业、电信和交通等行业转变为私人企业。如今，他们的后人也需要对房屋、土地和资源实行私有化。这是一笔巨大的财富，它正在等待着人们去把它发掘出来。
1.think of 想起;考虑
例句:It behoves us to think of these dangers.
我们必须考虑到这些危险。
2.make up 弥补
例句:While renewable sources of energy will make upthe fastest-growing segment of the fuel mix in the future, fossil fuels will remain the dominantsource.
尽管可再生能源将是未来燃料组合中增长最快的组成部分，但石化燃料仍将占据主流。
3.able to 能;会
例句:He had never been able to disbelieve it completely.
他从未能够对此予以全盘否定。
4.reluctant to 不愿
例句:Criminals are very reluctant to leave a paper trail.
罪犯非常不愿意留下案底。