万花筒 2008-09-17&09-19 华尔街金融危机浅析

We used to have five major Wall Street firms, now we are down to two, and the meltdown of the three that we've seen, although Merrill by the way is not a meltdown. It was sold at a premium¹ and a big number actually, which is, I think, has been underreported. But reason that at least two of these firms have melted down is because the model that has reigned² on Wall Street for decades is really a very bad model, especially for shareholders³. These companies are focused on the employees and are run completely for the benefit of their employees and not the shareholders. Let me give you some examples.

 

Lehman had the leverage⁴ of around 30 times, er, its book value which was over 20 billion, so it had a 700-billon-dollar balance sheet (which) was lately reduced to around 600 billion when they were claiming to (quote) "Deleverage", so that's like having a mortgage on your house, that's a 97% mortgage, if the value of your house drops, inevitably⁵ in a bubble market in housing which is one of the reasons why these companies are in trouble, you lose all your equity⁶. That's what happened to these firms, they were enormously over-leveraged, and when the market turned against them, they lost all their book value which we just saw clearly was illustrated⁷ by what the banks decided⁸, ah, on Sunday, when they decided not to bail⁹ them out.

 

Um, but, when they get lucky, and interest rates drop which has happened almost all through Lehman's history, cause' it went public in 1994, the value of those assets swells¹⁰ enormously and they all look like geniuses, but eventually the market turns against them, the leverage bites the wrong way, and none of the huge pay that these companies are paying out to their employees ever comes back. Uh, and We saw pay-scales at Lehman and all these firms, they are unprecedented¹¹ in and outside of Hollywood, maybe, or maybe hedge funds. And they were completely undeserved, because they were strictly¹² making money because of luck and huge leverage.
 

1 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

2 reigned   

vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式）

参考例句：

• Silence reigned in the hall. 全场肃静。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Night was deep and dead silence reigned everywhere. 夜深人静，一片死寂。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

4 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

5 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

6 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

7 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

10 swells   

增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The waters were heaving up in great swells. 河水正在急剧上升。
• A barrel swells in the middle. 水桶中部隆起。

11 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

12 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。