Ford And The $9 Billion Joy Ride
在歌剧《窈窕淑女》(My Fair Lady)中，伊莉莎?杜利特尔(Eliza Dolittle)对她的追求者们不敢有所行动大为不满。她最后抱怨到：“一会儿甜言！一会儿蜜语！我对甜言蜜语深感厌恶！成天都是这种甜言蜜语。一会儿是他说，一会儿是你讲！你们这群笨蛋就会做点这个吗？”
In the musical 'My Fair Lady,' Eliza Dolittle, sick of seeing little action from her suitors, finally declared: 'Words! Words! I'm so sick of words! I get words all day through. First from him, now from you! Is that all you blighters can do?'
持怀疑态度的国会议员──他们自己也是废话连篇──可能也会向急于证明自己已从信贷危机中吸取教训的高管、监管者和银行家们提出同样的问题。但尽管这些乞求者可能已经学会了如何像一位忏悔者那样表现，但还不清楚这种真正的忏悔，或说是真正的改变能否换来实际的行动。
Skeptical Congressmen - a pretty wordy bunch themselves - might ask the same of the legions of executives, regulators and bankers falling over themselves to prove that they have learned their lessons from this credit crisis. But while these supplicants may have learned their lessons about how to put on a great show of acting like a penitent, it isn't clear that real penitence - or real change - is yet the order of the day.
比如福特汽车(Ford Motor)的首席执行长艾伦?穆拉利(Alan Mulally)，他夸下海口称将尽力说服国会批准联邦政府的90亿美元信贷安排。穆拉利做出的姿态包括作秀般地从底特律驾车到华盛顿（这次没有乘坐私人飞机）、把年薪降至1美元和承诺支出140亿美元生产更省油的汽车。
Consider Ford Motor (F) Chief Executive Alan Mulally, who promised the moon to try and persuade Congress to hand over the keys to a $9 billion credit line from the federal government. Mulally's bargain included ostentatiously driving to Washington from Detroit (forsaking the private jet, this time), taking a $1 salary and promising to spend $14 billion building more fuel-efficient vehicles.
其中最令人吃惊的事情是，承诺中还包括考虑出售旗下的沃尔沃 (Volvo)品牌。之所以令人吃惊是因为早就有传言称福特汽车在近18个月前就一直在寻找沃尔沃的买家。任何机灵一点的买家最迟在去年7月份应该就知道了这个消息。福特汽车有关正考虑出售这项业务的正式声明对沃尔沃的销售前景没有任何改变，唯一有可能改变的事实只是潜在买家现在清楚福特汽车承认陷入了困境，因此愿意支付的价格可能就会低于1年前了。
It also included, most startling of all, a promise to explore a sale of its Volvo brand. Startling, that is, because Ford has been widely rumored to have been looking for a buyer for Volvo for nearly 18 months. Any astute purchaser would have known as of last July to make an offer. Ford's official announcement that the business is on the block changes nothing about Volvo's sales prospects except perhaps the fact that potential buyers now know that Ford is officially in distress and probably willing to take a lower price than they would have a year ago.
与此同时，汽车三巨头的管理人员承诺将在3周内提出让各自公司恢复活力的计划。此前国会在一轮令人窒息的听证会上彻底拒绝了这些汽车公司原来的恳请。但3年前、5年前甚至16年前，当这些公司臃肿的商务模式已为许多分析师所清楚地看到时，三巨头都没能拿出这样一个计划，现在他们就能够拿出吗？
Meantime, the Big Three executives have promised to come up with viable turnaround plans for their companies in three weeks, after Congress roundly rejected their previous pleas after a disastrous round of hearings. But can car makers come up with such plans when they didn't come up with one three years ago, or five years ago, or 16 years ago, when the problems with their bloated business models were clear to many analysts?
在库伯勒?罗斯(Kubler-Ross)著名的“悲伤阶段论”中，这个阶段被称为“讨价还价期”，也是徒劳无用的时期。最终，寻找和提交救助方案的人将需要超越夸夸其谈，采取具体行动。但首先，他们必须接受目前糟糕的现实，承认以前错失了许多可以改变命运的机会。
In the famous Kubler-Ross stages of grief, this is what is known as bargaining, and it is futile. Eventually, the people looking for - and handing out - bailouts will have to move beyond words and take action. But first, they must accept how bad the situation is and acknowledge the many previous chances they had to change things.
Heidi N. Moore
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