ECONOMICS REPORT - Officials Target Mortgage Mess in U.S.
Thu, 26 Jun 2008
This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
经济报道－官员着手处理美国的抵押乱局。
2008年6月26日
这是VOA特别英语的经济报道。
American lawmakers and law enforcers are busy with the housing finance market.
美国立法者以及执法者忙于房产金融市场。
Many of the recent problems were caused by subprime mortgages. These highly profitable loans were marketed to risky buyers and then sold to investors. But even homeowners with good credit are having trouble with other new kinds of loans.
最近的许多问题源于次贷。这些高额利润的贷款发放给有风险的买家，然后出售给投资人。但是，具有良好信用的房主也正面临其它新型贷款的难局。
A Senate bill could help some people get lower-cost loans. It would let the government guarantee three hundred billion dollars in new financing.
参议院一项法案可帮助某些人获得低成本的贷款。这一法案使政府需要保证3000亿美元的新融资。
The first big sign of problems with mortgage investments, which led to a worldwide credit crisis, came last summer. Two funds of the Bear Stearns investment bank collapsed. They were heavily invested in risky home loans. Investors lost almost one and a half billion dollars.
抵押投资导致全球信用危机，其难局的第一个大迹象在去年夏天显现。贝尔斯登公司投资银行的二家基金崩溃。这二家基金高比例地投资于有风险的房产贷款。投资人几乎损失了15亿美元。
Last week, the Justice Department announced charges against the two men who led the hedge funds, Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin. Officials say that by March of last year, the managers believed the funds were at risk of collapse, but lied to keep investors from leaving. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
上周，（美国）司法部宣布对二人提起诉讼，他们是对冲基金的经理拉尔夫•齐奥菲和马修•丹宁。官员说，去年3月份，这二位经理相信，基金有崩溃的风险，但撒谎，以避免投资人撤资。二人均声称无罪。
Separately, the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced the results of Operation Malicious Mortgage. That investigation led to more than four hundred arrests in the last three months.
另外，司法部和FBI宣布了恶意抵押运营公司的调查结果。这一调查致使过去3个月内有400多起逮捕。
The people were charged with mortgage-related misrepresentations and other criminal abuses. The F.B.I. estimates that these mortgage fraud cases resulted in about one billion dollars in losses.
这些人被控告抵押相关的欺诈和其它犯罪性质的滥用。FBI估计，这些抵押欺诈案件导致大约10亿美元的损失。
Officials said nineteen companies were being investigated in connection with subprime loans. They included mortgage lenders, investment banks, hedge funds, accounting companies and credit rating agencies.
官员说，19家公司接受了次贷相关的调查。它们包括抵押放款人、投资银行、对冲基金、会计公司以及信用评级机构。
This week, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new rules for credit rating agencies. The aim is to reduce the dependence of money mangers and investment banks on credit ratings as a measure of risk.
本周，SEC（美国证券交易委员会）提出了信用评级机构的新条例。其目的是减少财务经理和投资银行对作为一项风险措施的信用评级的依赖。
Critics say credit rating agencies seriously underestimated the risk of many mortgage-related securities.
批评人士说，信用评级机构严重低估了许多抵押相关证券的风险。
And, shareholders in the nation's largest mortgage company, Countrywide, agreed Wednesday to sell the company to Bank of America. Countrywide has lost billions on bad loans, and its lending activities are the target of lawsuits. Also, there are accusations that some lawmakers in Congress got special treatment on loans through its chief, Angelo Mozilo.
另外，全美最大的抵押公司（全国金融服务公司）的股东周三同意将公司出售给美国银行。全国金融服务公司在坏帐贷款方面损失数十亿美元，其放款行为受到指控。并且，在这些指控中，议会中的某些立法者从其CEO安吉罗•莫奇洛那里获得了贷款的特殊优待。
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter and online at www.unsv.com. I'm Jim Tedder.
这是由Mario Ritter编写的、www.unsv.com上网的VOA特别英语的经济报道。我是Jim Tedder。
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