碰男降贸多大是 高级商务英语阅读 shared between the American borrower and the British investor and not their respective governments. It ought to be clear that the so-called debt problem is really a non-problem in the sense that what really matters is not debt but how it is acquired.Therefore,running a trade surplus is not necessarily a sign of economic health.Those who think otherwise have forgotten that during the depressed 1930s when tariffs were strongly defended and unemployment averaged 17 per cent America was a creditor nation with a trade surplus. But what the optimists overlook is that the gold was king during the nineteenth century,which meant that countries that deviated from the standard soon found themselves having to make the necessary monetary corrections. The importance of the gold standard lies in the fact that when the US borrowed from,for example, British investors it was borrowing real savings and not phony back deposits.That is to say,these saving actually consisted of deferred consumption. Once Keynes persuaded politicians to abandon gold,that "barbaric relic",as he called it,countries had to rely entirely on fiat money.This created unprecedented inflation on a global scale.It also generated bad deficits.These occur when central banks let loose with the money supply,usually through our old enemy credit expansion,the same process that triggers booms and inflates asset values. But there is another side to credit expansion and that is its effect on the trade balance.Monetary expansion inflates domestic spending which in turn raises the demand for imports.This demand continues to grow until the deficit reaches a point where the central bank sees it as another warning signal that monetary policy needs to be tightened. Now the central bank brings about credit expansion by forcing down interest rates.This eventually causes businesses expand their demand for loans for investment purposes.There is no reason that some of these loans should not be used to import capital goods. 第2页共7页高级商务英语阅读 shared between the American borrower and the British investor and not their respective governments. It ought to be clear that the so-called debt problem is really a non-problem in the sense that what really matters is not debt but how it is acquired. Therefore, running a trade surplus is not necessarily a sign of economic health. Those who think otherwise have forgotten that during the depressed 1930s when tariffs were strongly defended and unemployment averaged 17 per cent America was a creditor nation with a trade surplus. But what the optimists overlook is that the gold was king during the nineteenth century, which meant that countries that deviated from the standard soon found themselves having to make the necessary monetary corrections. The importance of the gold standard lies in the fact that when the US borrowed from, for example, British investors it was borrowing real savings and not phony back deposits. That is to say, these saving actually consisted of deferred consumption. Once Keynes persuaded politicians to abandon gold, that "barbaric relic", as he called it, countries had to rely entirely on fiat money. This created unprecedented inflation on a global scale. It also generated bad deficits. These occur when central banks let loose with the money supply, usually through our old enemy credit expansion, the same process that triggers booms and inflates asset values. But there is another side to credit expansion and that is its effect on the trade balance. Monetary expansion inflates domestic spending which in turn raises the demand for imports. This demand continues to grow until the deficit reaches a point where the central bank sees it as another warning signal that monetary policy needs to be tightened. Now the central bank brings about credit expansion by forcing down interest rates. This eventually causes businesses expand their demand for loans for investment purposes. There is no reason that some of these loans should not be used to import capital goods. 第 2 页 共 7 页