美联储遭遇共和党总统候选人连续多次猛烈攻击
After a fusillade of excoriating and in many ways unprecedented attacks on the Federal Reserve by the Republican presidential candidate, Janet Yellen, the US central bank’s chair, finally hit back.
在美联储(Fed)遭受共和党总统候选人连续多次猛烈、以及在很多方面都可谓前所未有的攻击后，美联储主席珍妮特•耶伦(Janet Yellen)终于反击了。
Ms Yellen last Wednesday dismissed as emphatically wrong Donald Trump’s claims that she and her institution were keeping short-term interest rates low at the behest of the Obama administration.
上周三，对于特朗普声称耶伦及美联储依奥巴马政府的要求保持低短期利率的指责，耶伦驳斥其大错特错。
Partisan politics play no role in our decisions, she declared.
她宣称，党派政治对我们的决定没有任何影响。
Mr Trump is throwing punches at a time when the US central bank is under assault from both sides of the partisan divide, and at a time when polling suggests public confidence in its leadership has declined during a subpar economic recovery.
美国央行正遭受着两党的两面夹击，与此同时民调显示在经济复苏低于预期之际公众对美联储领导力的信心下滑，在这种情况下，特朗普正挥拳猛击美联储。
Some experts say the Fed is vulnerable and that the populist attacks could fuel demands by politicians for tighter constraints on its policy freedoms.
一些专家称，美联储容易受到攻击，同时民粹主义攻击可能会推动政客要求收紧对美联储政策自由的限制。
Mr Trump is tossing a lot of fuel on the fire, says Sarah Binder, a professor of political science at George Washington University.
乔治华盛顿大学(George Washington University)的政治学教授萨拉•宾德(Sarah Binder)称，特朗普正在大肆火上浇油。
It intensifies the partisan criticism of the Fed and keeps the Fed in the politicians’ crosshairs.
这加剧了政党对美联储的批评，使美联储成了政客的攻击目标。
Mr Trump’s interventions by no means mark the first time the Fed has been turned into a political punching bag.
特朗普的介入并非美联储第一次被当成政治沙包。
Previous Fed chairs have been the subject of barbs during presidential campaigns — including in 2011 when Republican candidate Rick Perry accused former Fed chair Ben Bernanke of treasonous behaviour by conducting quantitative easing.
在过去的总统大选中，前美联储主席们也成为过口诛笔伐的对象，其中包括2011年共和党总统竞选人里克•佩里(Rick Perry)指责前美联储主席本•伯南克(Ben Bernanke)启动量化宽松是叛国行为。
Past administrations have seen outbreaks of tension with Fed chiefs, including under presidents George HW Bush and Richard Nixon.
过去几届政府都与美联储主席爆发过冲突，其中包括老布什(George HW Bush)和理查德•尼克松(Richard Nixon)政府。
Ms Yellen herself has become accustomed to fielding hostile questions from lawmakers during often fractious Capitol Hill appearances.
耶伦本人已经习惯了在国会表现得暴躁时应对来自议员充满敌意的问题。
Mr Trump has, however, set a new standard for anti-Fed invective — at least when it comes to presidential nominees.
然而，特朗普为反美联储的攻击设定了新标准——至少作为一个总统候选人。
He has said in recent weeks that Ms Yellen should be ashamed of what she is doing to the country, accusing her of creating a false stock market with low rates and setting policy to bolster President Barack Obama’s fortunes.
他在最近几周表示，耶伦应该对她对美国的所作所为感到羞愧，指责她以低利率创造了一个虚假股市并且为了支持总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)而制定政策。
He has also said he would not reappoint Ms Yellen if he became president — even though the last three Fed chairs have all had their tenures renewed by a president from the opposite party that first appointed them.
他还表示，如果他成为总统，他不会让耶伦连任——即使此前3位美联储主席都得到了与最初任命他们的政党对立政党的新总统的连任任命。
Don Kohn, a former Fed vice-chairman who is now at the Brookings think-tank, says it is nothing new to see the Fed being hit by politicians and that discussion of Fed policy is desirable in a democracy.
现在供职于智库布鲁金斯学会(Brookings)的前美联储副主席唐•科恩(Don Kohn)称，美联储被政客攻击没什么新鲜的，在民主国家中讨论美联储政策也很好。
Mr Trump’s words would not influence Fed decisions at all, he says.
他称，特朗普的言论丝毫不会影响美联储的决定。
But he adds: These attacks are worrisome to this extent: you do see polls suggesting the public’s respect for the Fed has fallen substantially relative to the pre-crisis period.
但是他补充称：从如下方面看这些攻击令人担忧：你确实看到民调显示，相比危机前时期，公众对美联储的尊重大幅下滑。
These kinds of attacks, which accuse the Fed of acting on political motives rather than pursuing economic objectives, do not help the Fed gain the confidence of the public.
此类攻击——指责美联储根据政治动机、而非追求经济目标来采取措施——对美联储重拾公众信心没有好处。
Ted Truman, a fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics who also previously served at the Fed, says Mr Trump’s words could fuel demands by those who want to reform the central bank in a number of dimensions, including politicians who want it to set monetary policy according to stricter rules.
彼得森国际经济研究所(Peterson Institute for International Economics)的研究员泰德•杜鲁门(Ted Truman)也曾经在美联储就职。他称，特朗普的言论可能会助涨那些想从多维度改革美联储的人的要求，其中包括那些想让美联储根据更严格的规则来制定货币政策的政客。
Tirades from Mr Trump and Republican lawmakers could also make it more difficult for the central bank to obtain political support for the use of new tools to fight future downturns — for example increases to the central bank’s inflation target or the use of negative interest rates, says Ms Binder.
宾德称，特朗普和共和党议员的口诛笔伐也会使美联储更难以获得政治支持来使用新工具对抗未来衰退——比如上调通胀目标或启用负利率。
It will be a very uphill battle.
这将是一场非常艰难的战斗。
On the Democratic side, politicians have been complaining the Fed has an insufficiently diverse leadership and that the reserve bank system gives too much influence to commercial banks, as well as demanding it refrain from tightening monetary policy.
在民主党方面，政客们抱怨美联储的领导班子不够多元化、联储银行系统对商业银行的影响太大，并要求美联储避免收紧货币政策。
Elizabeth Warren, the progressive Democratic senator from Massachusetts, formed an unlikely alliance with David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, to rein in the central bank’s emergency lending powers.
改革派马萨诸塞州民主党参议员伊丽莎白•沃伦(Elizabeth Warren)为限制美联储的紧急贷款权力，竟然与路易斯安那州的共和党参议员戴维•维特(David Vitter)不可思议地结成了联盟。
Populists both left and right are ganging up on the Fed, even if their concerns are different, Ms Binder says.
宾德称，左翼和右翼的民粹主义者正在联合起来对付美联储，尽管他们的关注点不同。
The rise of populists such as Mr Trump has come at a time when trust in institutions and experts has been ebbing among some sections of the public.
特朗普等民粹主义者的崛起正值部分公众对机构和专家的信任减退之际。
This will only make life more difficult for technocratic and somewhat mysterious institutions such as the Fed.
这只会使美联储等技术官僚型、多少有点神秘的机构的日子愈发艰难。
The Fed recognised after the crisis it needed to go out and explain itself to a broader audience, Mr Kohn says. The populace now seems to be more divided and polarised, and the recovery has been slower than many wanted.
在危机后，美联储意识到它需要走出去向更多人解释，科恩称，如今公众的分歧和分化似乎进一步加深，复苏步伐慢于很多人的期望。
Maybe these efforts need to be redoubled.
或许美联储应该加倍努力。
BoE governor faced down critics of Brexit stance
英国央行行长不顾批评坚持有关英国退欧的立场
Mark Carney, Bank of England governor, has been defiant in the face of criticism from pro-Brexit politicians, who took issue with his involvement in the debate about the UK’s membership of the EU.
英国央行(Bank of England)行长马克•卡尼(Mark Carney)毫不理会支持退欧政客的批评，后者对卡尼介入有关英国退欧的辩论强烈不满。
Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative member of the UK parliament’s Treasury committee and one of Mr Carney’s most vocal political critics, described his behaviour as beneath the dignity of the bank when he issued a warning that voting to leave the EU could result in a technical recession.
英国议会财政委员会的保守党成员雅各布•里斯-莫格(Jacob Rees-Mogg)是对卡尼最直言不讳的政治批评人士之一。他形容称，卡尼发出警告称公投决定退欧可能会带来技术性衰退的行为有失央行身份。
But Mr Carney dismissed allegations that the bank had been politically partisan as entirely unfounded.
但是卡尼驳斥称，指责英国央行在政治上存在倾向性的说法毫无根据。
Since the UK voted on June 23 to leave the bloc, the economy has performed better than many economists had feared.
自从6月23日英国投票决定退出欧盟以来，英国经济的表现强于很多经济学家的担忧。
But Mr Carney has continued to robustly defend his earlier warnings.
但是卡尼仍然极力坚持他此前的警告。
Giving evidence to a group of senior politicians earlier this month, he said he was absolutely serene about the judgments he made and claimed some credit for stabilising the economy, saying the BoE’s decisive actions after the vote had reduced the risk of a recession.
本月早些时候，他向一些资深政治人士提供证据时称，他对于自己的判断完全有把握，并认为自己对稳定经济做出了一些贡献，称英国央行在退欧公投后采取的果断行动降低了英国陷入衰退的危险。
