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  3. One lesson of the financial crisis is this: when the entire financial system succumbs(屈服)to panic, only the government is powerf

One lesson of the financial crisis is this: when the entire financial system succumbs(屈服)to panic, only the government is powerf

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问题     One lesson of the financial crisis is this: when the entire financial system succumbs(屈服)to panic, only the government is powerful enough to prevent a complete collapse. Panics signify the triumph of fear. Troubled Assets Relief Program(TARP)was part of the process by which fear was overcome. It wasn’t the only part, but it was an essential part. Without TARP, we’d be worse off today. No one can say whether unemployment would be 11% or 14% ; it certainly wouldn’t be 8.9%.
    That benefited all Americans. TARP, says Douglas Elliott of the Brookings Institution, "is the best large federal program to be despised by the public." The source of outrage is no secret. Bankers are blamed for the crisis and reviled. The bank bailout—TARP’s first and most important purpose—was unpopular. Most Americans, says Elliott, "believe that taxpayers spent $ 700 billion and got nothing in return."
    What this ignores is that an alternative being promoted at the time was widespread nationalization of banks. The cost would have been many times higher; the practical problems would have been enormous. As it was, TARP invested $ 245 billion in banks. The extra capital helped restore trust. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve increased its lending; the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. guaranteed $ 350 billion of bank borrowings. Banks resumed dealing with each other because they regained confidence that commitments would be honored. Of the $245 billion invested in banks, the Treasury has already recovered about $244 billion, including interest payments, dividends(红利), and cash from sold bank stock warrants. So the bank rescue has roughly broken even. When TARP’s remaining bank investments are closed, the Treasury expects an overall profit of about $ 20 billion.
    Almost all of TARP’s activities have been distasteful. This was surely true of the rescue of General Motors and Chrysler. But the automakers’ collapse would clearly have worsened already gloomy unemployment. Did we really want these companies to shut down, with some plants sold to foreign automakers? We need to remember that TARP was a desperate program for desperate times. But some criticisms are broad generalities that, on inspection, are highly suspect. One common assertion is that TARP will encourage more reckless risk-taking because big financial firms know they’ll be bailed out if their gambles backfire. Bankers keep profits but are protected against losses, which are assumed by the public.
    This is a serious issue, but TARP’s legacy is actually the opposite. During the crisis, investors in banks and financial institutions suffered huge losses. It wasn’t predictable which institutions would survive and which wouldn’t—or on what terms. The same would be true in the future. Indeed, TARP’s extreme unpopularity compounds uncertainty, because it suggests that politicians will recoil(退缩)from more bailouts. The moral hazard is more imagined than real.
What do we learn about TARP from the first paragraph?
选项 A、It played an important role in combating the fear of the financial crisis.
B、It was used by the federal government as the last resort.
C、It made more people lose their jobs and more firms go bankrupt.
D、It caused great panic and confusion among the US citizens.
答案A
解析 事实细节题。由第一段第三、四句可知，问题资产纾解计划是战胜恐惧的过程的一部分，它虽不是唯一的部分，但是必不可少的部分。由此可见，问题资产纾解计划在抗击对金融危机的恐惧中扮演重要的角色，因此答案为A)。B)“它是联邦政府所采用的最后的手段”，第一段没有明确提及，故排除；C)“它使更多的人丢掉工作，更多的公司破产”，第一段最后说没有问题资产纾解计划，我们今天的情况将会更糟糕，没有人能说失业率是11％还是14％，但它绝不会是8．9％，由此可知它降低了失业率，故C)错误；D)“它在美国公民中引起了极大的恐慌和疑惑”，原文并未提及，故排除。
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