This time last year, a hot topic for debate was the looming presence of sovereign wealth funds. Most people had never heard of them until late 2007 when they started putting capital into banks that were looking wobbly. Wobbly banks loomed large too, mainly thanks to an announcement from Societe Generale on the Wednesday of the 2008 meeting that a rogue trader had cost it a lot of money. But there was no shortage of parties, and certainly no need to spend any money on feeding myself.
去年此时,人们争论的一个热点话题是刚刚崭露头角的主权财富基金。2007年底主权财富基金开始向看起来摇摇晃晃的银行注资之前,多数人还从来没有听说过此类基金。摇摇晃晃的银行也很惹眼,主要是因为法国兴业银行(Societe Generale)在2008年年会的周三宣布,一名流氓交易员害该行损失了一大笔资金。但宴会仍然源源不断,自然我也就不用为吃的花一个子儿。