經濟學者的反對信（1）

　　世界金融大亂，訊息天天不同，分析性的文字不容易寫：動筆寫這邊，那邊改變了。寫專欄不是報道訊息。三天前美國衆議院否決了七千億救災，明天此文發表後可能通過。為什麼不停一下讓我先寫一篇呢？以不變應萬變，我想到一封美國經濟學者不久前發表的公開信。此信反對財政部長保爾森的救災計劃。評論這封信是停下來說一下的好辦法。

　　該信看來出自芝加哥大學。簽名的學者來自各方，人數不斷地加上去，幾天前是一百六十多個，沒有再跟進，今天可能近二百了。有幾個曾獲經濟學諾獎的，有些我四十年前認識，佩服。信是學者手筆，觀點明確，原文如下：

　　To the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate:

　　As economists, we want to express to Congress our great concern for the plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson to deal with the financial crisis. We are well aware of the difficulty of the current financial situation and we agree with the need for bold action to ensure that the financial system continues to function. We see three fatal pitfalls in the currently proposed plan:

　　1) Its fairness. The plan is a subsidy to investors at taxpayers’ expense. Investors who took risks to earn profits must also bear the losses. Not every business failure carries systemic risk. The government can ensure a well-functioning financial industry, able to make new loans to creditworthy borrowers, without bailing out particular investors and institutions whose choices proved unwise.

　　2) Its ambiguity. Neither the mission of the new agency nor its oversight are clear. If taxpayers are to buy illiquid and opaque assets from troubled sellers, the terms, occasions, and methods of such purchase must be crystal clear ahead of time and carefully monitored afterwards.

　　3) Its long-term effects. If the plan is enacted, its effects will be with us for a generation, for all their recent troubles, America’s dynamic and innovative private capital markets have brought the nation unparalleled prosperity. Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted.

　　For these reasons we ask Congress not to rush, to hold appropriate hearings, and to carefully consider the right course of action, and to wisely determine the future of the financial industry and the……

本文摘自《多難登臨錄》

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　　 本書以著名經濟學家張五常的手劄的形式，實時記錄了在當今全球金融危機背景下，中國國內經濟和社會發展的重要領域面臨的挑戰，如中國新勞動法出台、醫療改革、人民幣升值、科技轉型等熱點話題。張五常針對這些熱點發表了自己獨到的見解，他的研究成果無疑為關心中國未來發展前景的企業人士、政府官員、學者等提供了最新的理論和實踐方面的借鑒意義。