It’s a seemingly intractable dilemma, suddenly as salient in Berlin or Tokyo as it is in Washington; How do you save people’s ec

admin2021-10-14  50

问题     It’s a seemingly intractable dilemma, suddenly as salient in Berlin or Tokyo as it is in Washington; How do you save people’s economic livelihoods while telling those same people to stay home?
    A global recession, many forecasters say, is here and is growing more severe by the day, as millions of consumers and workers in Europe, Asia, and North America have been sidelined as governments take strict measures to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. Actions by governments and centra] banks ramped up, not so much in an effort to prevent a recession as simply to weather a storm that could easily become more severe than the global financial crisis a decade ago.
    Help can’t come soon enough for Dominik Wilkinson and his co-workers at a restaurant in the northern German town of Bielefeld. The restaurant’s 40 staff members were already working sharply reduced hours before Germany declared restaurants takeout-only for at least two weeks. "A prolonged closure would be death, in terms of revenue. It’s basically the same for every small and medium-sized company, " says Mr.  Wilkinson, a shift manager.
    In the United States, a March 19 Labor Department report showed weekly claims for unemployment benefits spiking more than at any time during the 2008 financial crisis. Every day brings more turmoil in global stock and bond markets as investors seek safe havens, even as central banks offer up amounts not seen since the financial meltdown of 2008. Yet the situation’s severity is spurring governments into action. Relief measures range from mortgage or tax holidays to cash infusions for households, while also lending or simply giving money to businesses to prevent mass layoffs or permanent closures.         Analysts say these are the kinds of measures that can help, but effectiveness will hinge on their magnitude and speed of delivery. And what makes this crisis different, they add, is that a pandemic must also be tamed because the economic and health crises are intertwined.
    The Group of Seven international economic organization has already issued a " whatever it takes" statement of determination. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank are mobilizing help for developing nations. But so far it’s an open question whether global leadership today can match the kind of concerted effort that emerged from the depths of the 2008 crisis. " A lot of people didn’t quite measure the gravity of the situation for a while, including myself to be honest," says Ioana Marinescu, an economist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. " We have to think about supporting business. That’s very important because if we allow businesses to fail, we are losing jobs...We’re also losing capital. "
The author’s attitude toward the current global leadership can be described as_________.

选项 A、supportive
B、skeptical
C、defensive
D、tolerant

答案B

解析 态度题。根据题干关键词global leadership可定位到第五段第三句。原文指出“但到目前为止,今天的全球领导力是否可以与2008年金融危机中出现的那种协调一致的努力相提并论,一切还毫无定论”。从But it’s an open question whether…这些字眼中,我们可以判断作者的态度为“怀疑、质疑”,故答案为[B]选项。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/NCY4777K
0

随机试题
最新回复(0)