大統領に当選したとたん、アメリカ企業のカネで豪華ヨット三昧をしていたはずの、あのサルコジ仏大統領が、「市場はいつでも正しいという考えはバカげている」「自由放任主義は終わった」と宣言。
France: Laissez-Faire Capitalism is Over – BusinessWeek
ということでヘッポコ訳です。ところどころ、というか、あちこちに、意味のよう分からんところがあります。(^_^;)
ですので、引用・転載禁止ということでお願いします。記事を紹介したい人は、英文から自分で翻訳して下さい。致命的な誤訳などはご指摘ください。m(_’_)m
フランス：自由放任資本主義は終わった
[Business Week 2008年9月29日]
ニコラス・サルコジ大統領は、市場は「常に何がベストかを知っている」という理論が終わったと宣言した。
仏独両国は木曜日（9月25日）、現在の金融危機は世界経済に重要な刻印を残すだろうと発言した。それとともに、ニコラス・サルコジ仏大統領は、われわれがこれまで知っていた低規制システムは「終わった」と宣言し、ペール・シュタインブリュック独財務相は、金融危機は多極化した世界の始まりを示すもので、そこではアメリカはもはや超大国ではない、と発言した。
サルコジ氏は、仏トゥーロンで、約4000人の支持者の聴衆に向かって演説したなかで、金融混乱によって、よりよい規制システムを実現することとともに強い道徳性を注入された資本主義を再発見する必要性が浮かび上がってきた、と述べた。
「全能の市場はいかなる規則、いかなる政治的介入によっても制約されてはならない、というアイデアは馬鹿げている。市場はいつも正しいというアイデアは馬鹿げている」とサルコジ氏は言った。
「現在の危機によって、われわれは、倫理と作用の基礎の上に資本主義を再発明しなければならなくなるだろう。そして、すべての問題を解決する方法としての自己規制は終わった。自由放任主義は終わった。全能の市場は常に何が最良かを知っているという考え方は終わった」と彼は付け加えた。
彼は、「いまのシステムは、不平等を増大させ、中間階級を失望させ、〔市場の〕投機を超え太らせた黄金のパラシュートを混乱のせいにするのを許している」と告発した。ヨーロッパの反応
フランス大統領はまた、「短期的な金融利益の論理」を批判し、「もっと法外な利潤を手に入れようとすること」の背後にはリスクが隠れていると述べた。それは、彼が言うには、資本主義の真の顔でない何かである
「市場経済とは、あらゆる分野で…規制された市場のことである。それは、ジャングルの法ではない。それは、少数者にとっての法外な利益ではなく、その他のすべての人に捧げられたものである。市場経済とは、価格を引き下げ、すべての消費者の利益となる競争のことである」
現在、EU理事会議長であるサルコジ氏の発言は、今週初め、年内に金融危機について討議するための国際会議を開くことを呼びかけたときに彼がおこなった声明と共通している。
木曜日、彼はふたたびヨーロッパに「緊急事態に行動できる能力を反映させること、その規則、原則を再検討すること」を呼びかけた。世界的に起こっている出来事から教訓を学んでいる間に。
サルコジ氏は言った。「すべての欧州人にとって、危機にたいする反応はヨーロッパ的なものであることを理解している」
彼は、「EU理事会議長の資格で、私は、次のヨーロッパ理事会（10月15日）の場で、その面からイニシアティブをとるつもりだ」とつけ加えた。「世界は決して同じ状態に戻らない」
一方で、ペール・シュタインブリュック独財務相 は、危機が発生したときの対応に失敗したとしてアメリカを批判し、アメリカはすでに「超大国」としての地位を失っているのかも知れないと発言した。
彼は、木曜日、ドイツ議会で、「アメリカは、世界金融システムの超大国という地位を失うだろう」、アジアやヨーロッパにおける中心からの脱出とともに「この世界は多極化するだろう」と語った。
「世界は、決して、危機が発生する以前の状態には戻らないだろう」と彼はつけ加えた。
シュタインブルク氏のアメリカに対する批判は、危機がはじまって以来におこなわれた批判のなかでもっとも鋭いものだ。
彼は、ワシントンを、昨年夏に危機が始まったあとになっても、より厳格な規制に抵抗したという理由で、はっきりと非難した。そして、この「何であれ自由市場」という態度と「この“自由放任主義者”たちによって用いられた」同意とは「単純だったが、それと同じくらい危険だった」と言った、とAPは報じた。
彼は、ドイツは、昨年、もっと規制すべきだという勧告をおこなったが、ワシントンは、それを考慮することを拒否したと強調した。
シュタインブルク氏は、彼らは「せいぜい嘲笑するか、ドイツのお好きな過剰規制の典型例とみなすだけだった」と言った。
今週初め、フランク=ワルター・シュタインマイアー独外相も、アメリカは、ヨーロッパから聞こえるアドバイスに、とくに、もっと管理する必要があるというドイツのアドバイスに耳を傾けるべきだったと発言した。
彼は、「ヨーロッパでは長い間議論してきた。それは、国際金融市場のまったく規制されていない部分は、もっと緻密にモニターされなければならないし、共通の規制での合意に達するように努力しなければならないということだ」と、水曜日、ニューヨーク証券取引所を訪問したさい雑誌『フォーブス』に語った。
France: Laissez-Faire Capitalism is Over
[BusinessWeek: Europe September 29, 2008, 2:46PM EST]
President Nicolas Sarkozy declared the theory that the market "always knows best" is finished
by Elitsa VuchevaBoth France and Germany on Thursday (25 September) said the current financial crisis would leave important marks on the world economy, with French president Nicolas Sarkozy declaring that the under-regulated system we once knew is now "finished," and German finance minister Peer Steinbruck saying the crisis marks the beginning of a multi-polar world, where the US is no longer a superpower.
Speaking to an audience of some 4,000 supporters in Toulon, France, Mr Sarkozy said the financial turmoil had highlighted the need to re-invent capitalism with a strong dose of morality, as well as to put in place a better regulatory system.
"The idea of the all-powerful market that must not be constrained by any rules, by any political intervention, was mad. The idea that markets were always right was mad," Mr Sarkozy said.
"The present crisis must incite us to refound capitalism on the basis of ethics and work & Self-regulation as a way of solving all problems is finished. Laissez-faire is finished. The all-powerful market that always knows best is finished," he added.
He accused "this system that allows the ones responsible for a disaster to leave with a golden parachute" of having "increased inequality, demoralised the middle classes and fed [market] speculation."
A European response
The French president also criticised "the logic of short-term financial profit" and said risks were hidden "to obtain ever more exorbitant profits" — something which, he said, was not the true face of capitalism.
"The market economy is a regulated market … in the service of all. It is not the law of the jungle; it is not exorbitant profits for a few and sacrifices for all the others. The market economy is competition that lowers prices … that benefits all consumers."
The speech by Mr Sarkozy, who is also the EU's current president-in-office, echoes similar statements he made earlier this week, when he called for an international meeting to discuss the crisis before the end of the year.
On Thursday, he also called on Europe to "reflect on its capacity to act in case of an emergency, to re-consider its rules, its principles," while learning the lessons from what is happening worldwide.
Mr Sarkozy said: "For all Europeans, it is understood that the response to the crisis should be a European one."
"In my capacity of president of the Union, I will propose initiatives in that respect at the next European Council [15 October]," he added.
'The world will never be the same again'
Meanwhile, German finance minister Peer Steinbruck criticised the US for failing to act in the wake of the crisis and said it would now lose its status of "superpower."
"The US will lose its status as the superpower of the world financial system. This world will become multi-polar," with the emergence of centres in Asia and Europe, he told the German parliament on Thursday.
"The world will never be as it was before the crisis," he added.
Mr Steinbruck's criticism of the US has been amongst the sharpest yet made since the beginning of the crisis.
He notably blamed Washington for resisting stricter regulation, even after the crisis started last summer, and said this free-market-above-all attitude and the argument "used by these 'laissez-faire' purveyors was as simple as it was dangerous," the Associated Press reports.
He stressed that Germany had made recommendations last year for more rules, which Washington refused to consider.
They "elicited mockery at best or were seen as a typical example of Germans' penchant for over-regulation," Mr Steinbruck said.
Earlier this week, German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also said the US should have listened to the advice coming from Europe, notably from Germany, that more control was needed.
"It is a discussion that we have had for a long time in Europe, that the completely unregulated parts of the international financial market must be more closely monitored and that we must try to reach an agreement on common regulations," he said during a visit to the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, according to Forbes.
【追記】
英誌『エコノミスト』のサイトにも、同じような記事が出ています。
Financial crisis: How Europe responds
[Oct 1st 2008 | PARIS From Economist.com]
European Schadenfreude over the ills of American capitalism doesn't mean a shift from the free market
ONE by one, European leaders have lined up to hail the triumph of welfare over Wall Street. "The idea that markets are always right was a mad idea," declared the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. America's laissez-faire ideology, as practised during the subprime crisis, "was as simplistic as it was dangerous," chipped in Peer Steinbrück, the German finance minister. His Italian counterpart, Giulio Tremonti, claimed vindication for a best-selling book that he wrote about the dangers of globalisation.
It would be wrong to exaggerate Europe's sense of self-righteousness over Wall Street's fall. This week governments in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands all scrambled to bail out troubled banks, confirming how exposed Europe's economies are to knock-on effects from America. Even left-wing editorialists in France, quick to sneer at degenerate American capitalism, have tempered their glee. "There would be something comical, even pleasurable, in watching the frenetic agitation of the banking world", wrote Laurent Joffrin, editor of Libe'ration newspaper, "if millions of jobs were not at stake, not to mention the economic balance of the planet."
There is nonetheless a common thread in European responses to America's troubles. It goes like this. We always knew that unbridled free markets were a mistake, yet we were derided for saying this; and now we are all paying the price for your excesses. In the face of popular consternation at capitalist decadence, the activist state is newly in fashion–and Europeans are taking the credit for it.
Yet there are doubts whether this will really alter any country's policies. A good test is France. Judging by his recent declarations, the centre-right Mr Sarkozy has taken a decidedly leftward turn. In the space of two days, he twice laid into free-market capitalism. "Laissez-faire is finished," he declared in Toulon. "The all-powerful market that is always right is finished."
It is not just rhetoric. With unemployment climbing, Mr Sarkozy has launched a EUR1.5 billion ($2.1 billion) yearly welfare-to-work scheme, based on state subsidies to supplement low pay, and paid for by an extra 1.1% tax on capital income–a measure that dismayed many of his own party's deputies. All talk of tax cuts has been shelved. And Mr Sarkozy has failed to cut public spending to keep his promise of balancing the government's budget by 2012.
But does this imply a genuine shift of economic policy? In the past Mr Sarkozy has been labelled l'Américain, but in truth Sarkonomics has always defied classification. In industrial policy, he has a long record of supporting state bail-outs. As finance minister in 2004, he fought off European Commission disapproval to use state money to rescue Alstom, an engineering firm. In campaign speeches in 2007, he declared that "free trade cannot be a dogma" and called for financial capitalism to be "moralised".
Yet Mr Sarkozy has also gone out of his way to press on the French the need to respond to, not deny, globalisation. He has implored the country that invented the 35-hour week to work more, take more initiative and expect fewer hand-outs from the state. He has exempted overtime work from taxes and social charges. He is tightening welfare rules to cut benefits if the jobless refuse more than two reasonable offers of work. He has strengthened the competition watchdog, and made it easier for discount retailers to set up shop. Mr Sarkozy was elected because French voters knew, however reluctantly, that they had to adapt to global capitalism.
In this respect, a close reading of Mr Sarkozy's Toulon speech is revealing. Alongside the tirades against financial capitalism, he also recalled that "capitalism is the system that has enabled the extraordinary development of western civilisation". He argues not for blind state intervention but for a new balance between the state and the market: one that tightens the state's role as regulator and enforcer of competition, but not–except in extremis–as owner.
Where does this leave Mr Sarkozy's liberalising reforms? He has said that "the crisis calls for an accelerated rhythm of reforms, not a slow-down." On financial regulation, he wants EU leaders to tighten accounting rules, and has called for a meeting of G8 leaders to rethink the global financial architecture. On domestic reform, he is urging more restrictions on executive pay and golden parachutes. But such measures are unlikely to derail Mr Sarkozy's parallel, liberalising efforts to trim the bureaucracy, encourage entrepreneurship, discourage welfare dependency, undermine the unions and boost competition.
The French, like most Europeans, know that the old high-tax, state-heavy model had hit the limits in terms of jobs and growth. In a recent poll for Le Parisien newspaper, 60% said that Mr Sarkozy should continue or speed up his reforms; only 30% said he should slow them down. Some Americans may fret that French-style socialism has arrived on Wall Street. But the last time the French picked a real Socialist to lead their country was 20 years ago.
こちらは、Financial Timesの記事。
Sombre Sarkozy sets out ideas to bolster state role – FT.com
Sombre Sarkozy sets out ideas to bolster state role
[Published: September 26 2008 03:00 | Last updated: September 26 2008 03:00]
By John Thornhill in ParisNicolas Sarkozy, France's president, delivered a ringing endorsement of global capitalism yesterday but said its values and practices must be fundamentally rethought in the face of the biggest financial crisis since the 1930s.
He also outlined plans to strengthen the state's role in the economy by under-writing all savers' deposits in French bank accounts and extending regulation to every financial institution and fund.
In a sombre speech to 4,000 supporters in Toulon, Mr Sarkozy said that the current crisis had killed off the doctrinaire beliefs that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall that democracy and the market were the solutions to all mankind's problems.
"The idea of an allpowerful market without any rules and any political intervention is mad," he said.
"Self-regulation is finished. Laisser faire is finished. The all-powerful market that is always right is finished."
Mr Sarkozy fiercely attacked the speculative nature of short-term financial capitalism, the excessive rewards paid to company bosses irrespective of achievement, and the unfair division of the fruits of economic growth.
But he also rejected the view that the financial turmoil signified a crisis of capitalism itself and said it would be a historic error to return to the collectivist thinking of the past.
"The crisis is not a crisis of capitalism. It is the crisis of a system that is far from the values of capitalism and has betrayed capitalism," he said.
Capitalism must be refounded on the ethic of effort, hard work and fair rewards. "We have to have a new balance between the state and the market," he said.
Mr Sarkozy said the crisis also highlighted the deficiencies of the European Union's institutional arrangements, questioning whether Europe could respond in such a swift and determined way as the US authorities. He also repeated calls he made earlier this week at the United Nations for an overhaul of the financial institutions created by the Bretton Woods agreement.
"We cannot continue to manage the 21st-century economy with the institutions of the 20th century," he said.
Mr Sarkozy said the French financial system had not been as badly hit as in some other countries but nevertheless made a "solemn promise" that all savers' deposits would be underwritten by the state.
"I will not accept that a depositor will lose one euro," he said.
金融危機：ヨーロッパはどう対応するか
[エコノミスト 2008年10月1日]
アメリカ資本主義の病気を喜ぶヨーロッパは、自由市場からの変化を意味しない。
一人また一人、ヨーロッパのリーダーたちが、ウォール街にたいする保護の勝利に喝采を送るために一列に並んだ。「市場は常に正しいという考えはばかげた考えだ」とニコラス・サルコジ仏大統領は宣言した。サブプライム危機の間にも実践されていたアメリカの自由放任イデオロギーは「単純だが、危険だ」と、ペール・シュタインブリュック独財政相はあざけった。彼のイタリアの相棒、ジュリオ・トレモンティは、グローバリゼーションの危険について書いた彼のベストセラー書について弁明を求めた。
ウォール街の失敗にたいするヨーロッパの自己正当化の意味を過大評価することは、間違っているだろう。今週、ベルギー、フランス、ドイツ、アリルランド、オランダの政府は、ヨーロッパ経済がアメリカからの連鎖反応にさらされていると述べて、大慌てで各国のトラブルに追い込まれた銀行たちを救済した。アメリカ資本主義の沈没をあざ笑ったフランスの左翼論説委員たちでさえ、その喜びを押さえた。「Libération」紙の編集者ローレン・ジョフリンは、「金融世界の熱狂的なアジテーションを聴いているのは、滑稽で、気持ちいいことかも知れない。もし、地球の経済バランスは言うまでもなく、100万の仕事が賭けられているのでなければ」と書いた。
それにもかかわらず、アメリカの混乱にたいするヨーロッパの反応には、共通する文脈がある。それはこんなふうだ。規制のない自由市場というものは間違いだということは、我々にはいつも分かっていた。いまでは、こういうことで我々はあざ笑われている。そして、いまや我々は全員があなた方の過剰にたいして支払っている。資本主義の没落という多くの人たちの恐怖に直面して、活動家の声明は、新しく流行している――そしてヨーロッパ人は、そのために信用をとっている。