In 1978, Alfred Kahn, an adviser on inflation to President Jimmy Carter, used the word “depression”. So angry was the president that Mr Kahn started to call it “banana” instead. But the recession Mr Kahn foretold happened all the same. The same may well happen with nationalisation. Indeed, it already has: how else is one to describe the actions of the federal government in relation to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG and increasingly Citigroup? Is nationalisation not already the big financial banana?
1978年，美国总统吉米•卡特(Jimmy Carter)的通胀事务顾问阿尔弗雷德•卡恩(Alfred Kahn)使用了“萧条”这个词。总统对此大为光火，于是卡恩开始用“香蕉”一词代替。不过卡恩预言的萧条还是发生了。同样的事情很可能发生在“国有化”身上。事实上，国有化已经发生了：不然你要如何描述联邦政府针对房利美(Fannie Mae)、房地美(Freddie Mac)、美国国际集团(AIG)以及越来越多地对花旗集团(Citigroup)采取的行动呢？难道国有化不是已经成为巨大的金融香蕉了吗？