The annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund over the weekend brought together frightened and angry people. The financial crisis that broke upon the world in August 2007 has entered a new and, in crucial respects, more dangerous phase. A positive feedback loop between banks and weak sovereigns is emerging, with a potentially calamitous effect on the eurozone and the global economy: the eurozone is no island. What makes this process particularly frightening is that weaker sovereigns are unable to cope on their own, while the eurozone has nobody in charge. The eurozone may lack the capacity to address the crisis.
上周末舉行的世界銀行(World Bank)和國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)年會上，恐慌的人們和憤怒的人們齊聚一堂。從2007年8月開始就困擾世界的金融危機，已經發展到了一個新的階段，而且從許多重要方面來看，這個階段都更加危險。一種惡性循環正在銀行業與虛弱的主權國家之間形成，它可能會對歐元區和全球經濟造成災難性影響：歐元區可不是什么“孤島”。這個過程尤其令人恐懼的是，較為弱小的主權國家無力獨自應對危機，而整個歐元區卻沒有人出面負總責。歐元區或許缺少解決這場危機的能力。