标题:America's carmakers A splash in the tank 水缸之水哗啦啦 Dec 19th 2008 From Economist.com George Bush bails out America's carmakers temporarily—now they are Barack Obama's problem 布希暂时拯救美国汽车业─现在汽车业是欧巴马的问题了 IN THE run up to George Bush’s announcement on Friday December 19th that he would bail out Detroit’s beleaguered carmakers rumours abounded that perhaps something more drastic was in the offing. Maybe the president would insist on an orderly transition into chapter-11 bankruptcy protection for Chrysler and General Motors—Ford, though also in dire trouble, is in slightly better shape. In the event he elected to do the minimum required to keep the cash-guzzlers on the road. Allowing the American car industry to collapse at the end of his presidency would have amounted to a bail-out for Barack Obama, the president-elect. 布希宣布他的政府将会对饱受折磨的底特律双雄（福特虽然糟，但相对来说比较好） 伸出援手时，有谣言四起，暗指可能事有蹊跷。或许布希会坚持要克莱斯勒和GM选择 「有秩序」的破产法第十一章。布希选择的是让这些吃钱为业的企业有最低底线的资源 能够苟活。让美国汽车业在布希任内终结等同於是拯救欧巴马。 A bail-out bill that had swept through the House of Representatives failed to pass in the Senate on December 11th. So Mr Bush instead has had to raid the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP), set up to bail-out Wall Street's banks and other financial institutions. GM and Chrysler will get $13.4 billion in emergency loans with another $4 billion to come in February. Without the cash the pair might have collapsed by the end of the year. The terms of the loan could allow the government to become big shareholders. 尽管汽车业的抒困方案在众议院轻松过关，却在参议院12月11号的表决中铩羽而归。 布希只好从拯救华尔街银行和其他金融机构的七千亿不良资产援助计画中，挖出134亿 紧急贷款，以及二月的另外一笔四十亿一并给了GM跟克莱斯勒。没有这些现金，这双雄 可能就在年底倒闭。借贷条款则可让政府成为这两公司的大股东。 Mr Bush made it clear that the special circumstances of the credit crisis and economic downturn won the car firms this lifeline. Ordinarily they would have been allowed to fail as a just punishment for the bad management and business practices that had got them into their atrocious state. The carmaker were deemed too big to fail—but only for the moment. “In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession allowing the US auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course of action” reckoned Mr Bush. He also accepted that bankruptcy was not an option. Customers would balk at buying cars from companies that had gone bust. 布希表明，这双雄之所以能得到政府抒困，是因为信贷危机和经济颓势等特殊情势。 正常情况下，GM跟克莱斯勒会因为经营不善以及营商手段不良而被迫倒闭，作为惩罚。 但目前这双雄规模大到不得倒闭─至少目前不行。「经济危机和衰退反而让美国汽车 制造业的倒闭成为不负责任的行为」，布希强调。他也认为两个制造商的破产不是选择。 消费者是不会放心购买已经倒闭的汽车企业所生产出来的汽车的。 The loans should keep GM and Chrysler in business until the end of March. By then the decision about how important it is that they survive will fall to Mr Obama. Perhaps they will be in the midst of a potentially successful restructuring by then. But, more likely, the loans will merely allow the American car industry to limp on until the conditions are more favourable for its demise. Although the loans come with a strict set of conditions the chances of restructuring in a short space of time are not high. Although the car industry has in the past shrunk itself and wrung concession from its unions as its market share has dwindled these efforts have usually amounted to doing too little too late. 这次借贷方案应该能让GM和克莱斯勒持续营运到三月底左右。届时，这双雄的生死前途 就得看欧巴马了。或许他们到时已经成功推动重建计画也不一定。但比较可能的情况， 是这批贷款仅能让美国汽车业苟延残喘到适合他们倒下得时刻。虽然贷款附带着严苛的 条件，但在这麽短的时间内推动成功的重组计画，着实机率不高。虽然汽车业在过去 也曾自我萎缩，以及股价狂泄时仍能把工会逼到妥协，但这些作为通常都是亡羊补牢， 为时已晚。 A deal with the United Auto Workers (UAW) a year ago to transfer health-care liabilities to a union-run fund and to reduce the pay and benefits of newly hired workers to rates similar to those at the transplants by 2010 was a step in the right direction. But the bail-out bill foundered in the Senate after the UAW declined to take wage cuts in 2009, preferring to see out the remainder of the current contract, which expires in 2011. Mr Bush’s bail-out deal requires the car companies to strike a new deal with the UAW that will make their workers competitve with those of he transplant factories in America of foreign car companies. But wage cuts, which the UAW have so far seemed disinclined to accept, are surely a necessity if America’s car companies are to have any chance of survival. The UAW have slammed this bail-out for the harsh conditions it imposes on workers 几年前，汽车业与美国联合汽车工会（UAW）订定了协议，移转健保给付负担给工会 经营的基金，并定於2010年时，将新雇员工补贴缩减至生产移转厂员工的等级等协议， 是正确的一步。但是，当UAW於2009年拒绝接受调降补贴、仅希望履行现行合约至 2011年时，抒困方案就在参议院被档下。布希政府的抒困方案要求汽车业与UAW敲定 新的合约，其中规范他们的工人必须能保持与外国汽车业的生产移转厂员工的竞争力。 但UAW不愿接受的薪资调降却是美国汽车业追求生存的必要手段。UAW已经大肆批评 这次抒困方案对於员工所强加的恶劣条件。 The carmakers will also have to strike deals with creditors to turn debt into equity. Creditor might be persuaded to go along with this plan by the threat of bankruptcy. Much depends on whether creditors believe that Mr Obama is prepared to allow this to happen. So far he has given no indication about how long he might be prepared to prop up Detroit’s carmakers, though he called the bail-out a necessary step and implored the car firms not to “squander” this opportunity to restructure. But one thing is certain—it is now his problem. Mr Bush has waved the carmakers goodbye and pointed them in the direction of Mr Obama’s White House. 这两家汽车业也必须与债主协商，将债务转为抵押资产。债主或许会因为不愿接受破产 而被迫接受这个计画。这或许全看债权人如何解读欧巴马对此事的态度。目前为止， 欧巴马并没有透露他会如何帮助底特律的汽车业，虽然他有表示抒困方案是必要手段， 并且要求汽车业不要「毁了」这次重建的机会。只有一件事情是确定的：现在是欧巴马 的问题了。布希已经挥手对汽车业说再见，还顺手指了指欧巴马与他的白宫政府。 http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12833915&source=features_box_main 新闻来源: (需有正确连结) -- --

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