George Soros -- the financial crocodileing-bottom: 75%;"> George Soros wants to be the Bono of the financial world. The speculator whose assault on sterling ejected Britain from the European exchange rate mechanism that September of 10 years ago has a mission－－to use his esti－mated ￡5 bn fortune and his fame to help tackle what he sees as the failures of globalisation. The idea that a man who made billions betting on the financial markets sides with the anti－globalisation movement might strike some as ironic. Soros is clearly genuinely appalled at the damage wrought on vulnerable economies by the vast sums of money which flow across national borders every day. 金融大鱷喬治·索羅斯 喬治·索羅斯想成爲金融界的博諾（U２樂隊主唱）。這位在10年前的那個９月份攻擊英鎊迫使英國退出歐洲匯率機制的投機商有一項使命---利用他大約50億英鎊的財產和他的聲名來幫助解決他所認爲的全球化失敗問題。一個靠在全球金融市場上的投機賺了幾十億的人會支持反全球化運動，這對許多人來說是具有諷刺意義的。很明顯，對於每天在各國之間流動的大量資金給經濟脆弱國家造成的傷害，索羅斯從心底感到震驚。 "The US governs the international system to protect its own economy. It is not in charge of protecting other economies, "he says. "So when America goes into recession, you have anti－recessionary policies. When other countries are in recession, they don't have the ability to engage in anti－recessionary policies because they can't have a permissive monetary policy, because money would flee. "In person, he has the air of a philosophy professor rather than a gimlet－eyed financier. In a soft voice which bears the traces of his native Hungary, he argues that it is time to rewrite the so－called Washington consensus－－the cocktail of liberalisation, privatisation and fiscal rectitude which the IMF has been preaching for 15 years. Developing countries no longer have the freedom to run their own economies, he argues, even when they follow perfectly sound policies. He cites Brazil, which although it has a floating currency and manageable public debt was paying ten times over the odds to borrow from capital markets. 索羅斯說："美國管理國際經濟體系是爲了保護本國利益，它並不負責保護其它國家的經濟。因此，當美國陷入衰退後，美國會出臺反衰退政策。而其他國家陷入衰退時，卻無力這樣做，因爲這些國家不能實行自由開放的金融政策，否則資金就會外流?"索羅斯本人並不像一個目光敏銳的金融家，他更具有哲學教授的氣質。帶着匈牙利母語口音，他輕聲地說，現在是修改所謂的"華盛頓共識"的時侯了。他指的是國際貨幣基金組織15年來宣揚的自由化、私有化和財政透明的綜合體制。他說，發展中國家即使執行非常合理的政策，也不能再自由地控制本國經濟。他援引巴西的例子說，儘管巴西實行了浮動匯率制和可控國債，但它向資本市場借款還是付出了比正常條件下高出１０倍的成本。 Soros, who at one stage after the fall of the Berlin Wall was providing more assistance to Russia than the US government, believes in practising what he Open Society Institute has been pivotal in helping eastern European countries develop democratic societies and market economies. Soros has the advantage of an insider's knowledge of the workings of global capitalism, so his criticism is particularly pointed. Last year, the Soros foundation's network spent nearly half a billion dollars on projects in education, public health and promoting democracy, making it one of the world's largest private donors. 索羅斯在柏林牆倒塌後一段時間內向俄羅斯提供的援助曾一度超過美國政府的援助。他堅定地實施自己宣揚的觀點。他的"開放社會研究所"在幫助東歐國家發展民主社會和市場經濟方面發揮了重要作用。索羅斯具有業內人士的優勢，瞭解全球資本主義的運行，因此他的批評會受到特別關注。去年索羅斯基金網絡在教育、公共衛生、促進民主項目上花費了近５億美元，使索羅斯基金成爲世界上最大的私人捐助集團之一。 Soros credits the anti－globalisation movement for having made companies more sensitive to their wider responsibilities."I think [the protesters] have made an important contribution by making people aware of the flaws of the system, "he says."People on the street had an impact on public opinion and corporations which sell to the public responded to that."Because the IMF has abandoned billion dollar bailouts for troubled economies, he thinks a repeat of the Asian crisis is fund's new"tough love"policy－－for which Argentina is the guinea pig －－ has other consequences. The bailouts were a welfare system for Wall Street, with western taxpayers rescuing the banks from the consequences of unwise lending to emerging economies. Now the IMF has drawn a line in the sand, credit to poor countries is drying up."It has created a new problem－－the inadequacy of the flow of capital from centre to the periphery, " he says. 索羅斯讚揚反全球化運動使各公司更加認識到自己更廣泛的責任。他說："我認爲（反對者們）作出了重要貢獻，使大衆意識到這個體系的缺陷。大街上的人們對輿論會有所影響，而向公衆推銷商品的公司也會對輿論作出反應?"由於國際貨幣基金組織已經拒絕向經濟困難的國家提供數十億美元的救濟，索羅斯認爲亞洲經濟危機不會重演。國際貨幣基金組織"既愛又嚴"的新政策---阿根廷是該政策的試驗品---帶來了其他後果。西方納稅人挽救了銀行因不理智地向新興國家提供貸款造成的惡果，而國際貨幣基金組織的那些救濟金則成了華爾街的福利制度。現在國際貨幣基金組織對貧困國家的貸款正在枯竭。索羅斯說："這就產生了一個新問題---資金從中心向周邊流動不足。" The one economy Soros is not losing any sleep about is the US."I am much more positive about the underlying economy than I am about the market, because we are waging war not only terrorism but also on recession, "he says."Although we don't admit it, we are actually applying Keynesian remedies, and I am a confirmed Keynesian. I have not yet seen an economy in recession when you are gearing up for war."He worries that the world's largest economic power is not living up to its responsibilities."I would like the United States to live up to the responsibilities of its hegemonic power because it is not going to give up its hegemonic power, "he says."The only thing that is realistic is for the United States to become aware that it is in its enlightened self－interest to ensure that the rest of the world benefits from their role." 索羅斯最不擔心的就是美國經濟。他說："我對美國的經濟潛力比對現在的市場更有信心，因爲我們正在進行的戰爭不僅是對付恐怖主義，而且也是在向經濟衰退開戰。儘管我們不承認，但我們實際是在奉行凱恩斯主義藥方，我是一個堅定的凱恩斯主義者。我從來沒見過哪個國家在準備戰事時還會陷入經濟衰退。"他擔心這個世界上最大的經濟大國不能承擔起自己的責任。他說："我希望美國能夠承擔起作爲霸權國家的職責，因爲美國不會放棄自己的霸權地位。惟一現實的是，美國應意識到，保證世界上其他國家能從他們自己所承擔的角色中受益，顯然是符合美國自身利益的。"By Charlotte Denny
