Obama’s Statement on A.I.G.
By The New York Times
Doug Mills/The New York Times President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner at the White House on Monday.
President Obama vowed to try to stop the faltering insurance giant American International Group from paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to executives, as the administration scrambled to avert a populist( ) backlash( ) against banks and Wall Street which could complicate( ) Mr. Obama’s economic recovery agenda. President Obama’s full statement is below.
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奥巴马总统声明要阻止摇摇欲坠的保险业巨头美国国际集团花费数百万美元奖金给高管们的做法，同时奥巴马政府正竭力避免民粹主义反对银行和华尔街的民粹主义的反作用，那将会使奥巴马的经济复苏的议程复杂化。以下是总统奥巴马的发言全文。 |
| I want to comment on the news about executive bonuses at A.I.G. This is a corporation that finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed. |
我想就美国国际集团(AIG)的高级管理层的奖金问题发表一下自己的看法。这家公司由于自己的鲁莽和贪心而陷入了财务困境。 |
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Under these circumstances, it’s hard to understand how derivative( ) traders at A.I.G. warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay. How do they justify this outrage( ) to the taxpayer( )s who are keeping the company afloat?
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基于这种情况，很难理解AIG公司的衍生产品的交易者被颁发任何奖金，更不用说1.65亿美元额外所得。他们如何向支撑着公司存活的纳税人们解释这种可耻行为？ |
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In the last six months, A.I.G. has received substantial( ) sums from the U.S. Treasury. I’ve asked Secretary Geithner to use that leverage and pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole.
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在过去的六个月里，A.I.G.从美国财政部取得了大量资金。我已经要求部长盖特纳运用这个影响力以及寻找一切合法途径来阻止这些奖金，使美国纳税人能够团结一心。 |
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I know he’s working to resolve this matter with the new C.E.O., Edward Liddy, who came on board after the contracts that led to these bonuses were agreed to last year.
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我了解到他正在和新任C.E.O. Edward Liddy一同解决这件事情。Edward Liddy是在去年这个奖金协议决定之后上任的。 |
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This isn’t just a matter of dollars and cents. It’s about our fundamental values.
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这不仅仅是关系到钱，它还体现了我们的基本价值观 |
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All across the country, there are people who work hard and meet their responsibilities every day, without the benefit of government bailouts or multi-million dollar bonuses. And all they ask is that everyone, from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, play by the same rules.
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全国各地那些每天努力工作尽忠职守的人们，他们没有得到政府救助或数百万美元的奖金。他们所有的要求是每一个人，不论是在普通的大街, 在华尔街, 还是在华盛顿的人，都必须遵守同样的规范。 |
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That is an ethic we must demand.
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这是种道德标准我们必须做到。 |
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What this situation also underscores is the need for overall financial regulatory reform, so we don’t find ourselves in this position again, and for some form of resolution mechanism in dealing with troubled financial institutions, so we have greater authority( ) to protect the American taxpayer and our financial system in cases such as this. We will work with Congress to that end.
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这种情形促使我们需要要对金融管理进行总体改革，这样我们才能避免再次处在这种处境，以及需要某种形式的解决机制来处理出问题的金融机构，这样我们有更大的权力—在遇到现在的情况下—能保护美国纳税人和我们的金融体系。我们将与国会为此目标一起工作。 |