There is an inexorable drive on both sides of the Atlantic to finalise new rules, regulations and laws to place the financial system on a sounder footing. But in their zeal to act, politicians and regulators are looking through the wrong end of the telescope. Too much attention is being paid to maintaining a status quo that allows banks to continue engaging in the full range of activities to which they have become accustomed – admittedly under a number of regulatory constraints – without dealing with the fundamental causes of today's critical difficulties.
爲了鞏固金融體系的基礎,大西洋兩岸都拿出了不可阻擋的勁頭,試圖制定新的規則、監管規定和法律。但行動熱情高漲的政治家和監管者正從望遠鏡的錯誤一端看問題。他們太過強調維持現狀,使得銀行能夠繼續從事自己所習慣的全套業務——當然,是要受到一些監管方面的限制——而未從根源上解決當前最緊要的問題。