Lloyd Blankfein and his accusers have at least one thing in common. Both talk convincingly, but fail to back this up with the concrete steps needed to bolster the financial system. In his congressional grilling yesterday, Mr Blankfein, Goldman's chief executive, admitted that “complexity and the fact that some instruments couldn't be easily bought or sold compounded the effects of the crisis”. He also called for more transparency, and supported clearing houses for “eligible derivatives”. These positions just about add up to accepting that the transaction involving a synthetic collateralised debt obligation that prompted a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit should probably not be allowed in the future.
劳尔德•贝兰克梵(Lloyd Blankfein)和起诉他的那些人至少有一个共同点。那就是他们说起话来都言之凿凿，但未能辅之以巩固金融体系的具体举措。昨日在接受国会质询时，这位高盛首席执行官承认，“复杂性，以及某些工具无法轻易买卖的事实，加重了危机的影响”。他还呼吁提高交易透明度，并支持为“合乎条件的衍生产品”设置清算所。这些立场几乎等同于接受这样一种观点：即今后或许应该禁止任何涉及合成债务抵押债券(synthetic CDO)的交易，该产品正是美国证交会(SEC)此次诉讼的诱因。