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，美國總統吉米•卡特(Jimmy Carter)的通膨事務顧問阿爾弗雷德•卡恩(Alfred Kahn)使用了「蕭條」這個詞。總統對此大爲光火，於是卡恩開始用「香蕉」一詞代替。不過卡恩預言的蕭條還是發生了。同樣的事情很可能發生在「國有化」身上。事實上，國有化已經發生了：不然你要如何描述聯邦政府針對房利美(Fannie Mae)、房地美(Freddie Mac)、美國國際集團(AIG)以及越來越多地對花旗集團(Citigroup)採取的行動呢？難道國有化不是已經成爲巨大的金融香蕉了嗎？