The People’s Money (Part 2)

An Explanation of the Federal Reserve Money system and what it means for the potential accomplishments of American Democracy

解释美联储货币体系及其对美国民主潜在成就的意义

Let’s begin by restating what I think was the main insight of PART 1 : The overarching purpose of the Federal Reserve Act was to enable “money” to be created, as necessary, to support the scale of commerce that American Enterprise decides to undertake and accomplish.

让我们首先重申我认为第 1 部分的主要见解：《联邦储备法》的首要目的是在必要时创造“货币”，以支持美国企业决定开展和完成的商业规模。

If the labor, materials, energy, technology, and ingenuity exist to do something—and it is desirable that it should be done—it is illogical to say it can’t be done because there isn’t enough “money” in the system to pay for the doing of it.

如果劳动力、材料、能源、技术和独创性的存在可以做某件事——并且应该做这件事是可取的——那么说它不能做是不合逻辑的，因为系统中没有足够的“钱”来支付做这件事的费用。

The only questions to be asked, then, are two: (1) Who will create the “money” when it’s needed, and (2) Who will decide when the creation of additional “money” is justified?

那么，唯一要问的问题是两个：（1）谁将在需要时创造“货币”，以及（2）谁将决定何时创造额外的“货币”是合理的？

Regarding the first question, since the Reserves used today are “fiat money,” their only source is a sovereign government.

关于第一个问题，由于今天使用的储备是“法定货币”，因此它们的唯一来源是主权政府。

In our case, the authorized agent of the U.S. government, for this purpose, is the Federal Reserve.

就我们而言，为此目的，美国政府的授权代理人是美联储。

The FED, then, creates all Reserve fiat dollars (with keystrokes to an electronic balance sheet) no matter for what purpose.

然后，美联储创建所有储备法定美元（通过敲击电子资产负债表），无论出于什么目的。

No one else is authorized to do so.

没有其他人被授权这样做。

Regarding question No. 2, there are two answers, depending on whether the new Reserves are needed for private enterprise or public enterprise.

关于问题2，有两个答案，具体取决于私营企业或公营企业是否需要新的储备金。

What we’ll explore now are these two very different rooms under the roof of our Federal Reserve edifice.

我们现在要探索的是美联储大厦屋顶下的两个截然不同的房间。

While they have connecting hallways, and many of the occupants wear two hats, they serve two distinctly different needs of our collective society.

虽然它们有相连的走廊，而且许多居住者都戴着两顶帽子，但它们满足了我们集体社会的两种截然不同的需求。

The distinguishing thing about private enterprise is that its guiding principle is to make a financial profit.

私营企业的特点是其指导思想是盈利。

In the process of doing so, it provides a great diversity of goods and services that people really need, enjoy, and benefit from.

在此过程中，它提供了人们真正需要、享受和受益的多种多样的商品和服务。

But those beneficial goods and services, wonderfully important as they are, constitute a by-product of private enterprise’s underlying motive.

但这些有益的商品和服务尽管非常重要，但却是私营企业潜在动机的副产品。

This fact becomes apparent when you consider that if a good or service cannot be produced profitably (even if it is arguably beneficial or desirable) private enterprise will not produce it.

当你考虑到如果一种商品或服务不能有利可图地生产（即使它可以说是有益的或令人向往的），那么私营企业就不会生产它，这一事实就变得显而易见。

Or, if a produced good or service proves to be unexpectedly un profitable (even though beneficial) private enterprise will cease producing it.

或者，如果生产的商品或服务被证明出乎意料地无利可图（即使有益），私营企业将停止生产。

This is not because private enterprise is “greedy” or uncaring—it’s simply an implicit structure of private enterprise’s nature.

这并不是因为私营企业“贪婪”或冷漠——这只是私营企业本质的隐性结构。

This implicit structure of private enterprise gives rise to the need for public enterprise—the undertaking of things that are beneficial (even existentially essential ) for the collective good, but which do not, or cannot, produce financial profits.

私营企业的这种隐性结构产生了对公共企业的需求——从事对集体利益有益（甚至是生存必需的）的事情，但不会或不能产生经济利润。

This includes goods and services which, to be profitable, demand prices that large segments of society cannot afford to pay.

这包括为了盈利而要求社会大部分人无法支付的价格的商品和服务。

Public enterprise also undertakes beneficial things which may, someday in the future, become a profitable enterprise, but which, in their exploratory or start-up stages, involve too much financial risk for private enterprise to undertake.

公营企业也从事有益的事情，这些事情可能在未来的某一天成为盈利企业，但在探索或初创阶段，涉及太多的财务风险，私营企业无法承担。

Private and public enterprise share certain things in common.

私营企业和公营企业有某些共同点。

First, they share access to the real resources necessary to provide goods and services: labor, technology, materiel, energy, specialized skills, etc. Each of the enterprises pays money to marshal these resources to achieve its goals.

首先，它们共享提供商品和服务所需的实际资源：劳动力、技术、物资、能源、专业技能等。每个企业都付费来整合这些资源以实现其目标。

Private enterprise hires American workers to build things and do things—and public enterprise does the same.

私营企业雇用美国工人来建造和做事，而公共企业也这样做。

The two enterprises also share the same source of money used for the paying—the Reserve fiat dollars issued by the Federal Reserve.

两家企业还共享相同的支付资金来源——美联储发行的储备法定美元。

Private enterprise creates claims on those Reserves with bank-dollars (please see PART 1), while public enterprise spends the Reserves directly.

私营企业用银行美元对这些储备金提出债权（请参阅第 1 部分），而公共企业则直接支出储备金。

(When public enterprise spends directly, the U.S. Treasury—the spending arm of the federal government—causes Reserves to be credited to the Reserve account of the bank associated with the spending recipient; in turn, the recipient’s bank credits bank-dollars to the recipient’s checking account.) Private and public enterprise, then, both depend on Reserves for their spending; each, however, has a different process by which it “calls for” the Reserve dollars it requires.

（当公共企业直接支出时，美国财政部（联邦政府的支出部门）将准备金记入与支出接收方相关的银行的储备账户；反过来，接收方的银行将银行美元记入接收方的支票账户。）那么，私营企业和公共企业的支出都依赖于储备金；然而，每个国家都有不同的“调用”所需储备金的流程。

If private enterprise sees a lot of opportunities to spend money for profit-making ventures, and the banks agree the opportunities look good (meaning they will likely make profits as well), the banks create bank-dollars and loan them to private enterprise to undertake the ventures.

如果私营企业看到有很多花钱进行营利性投资的机会，并且银行也认为这些机会看起来不错（这意味着它们也可能会盈利），那么银行就会创造银行美元并将其贷给私营企业进行投资。

The banks don’t calculate, first , whether they have enough Reserves to support the claims those new bank-dollars will make on their Reserve account at the FED.

首先，银行不会计算它们是否有足够的准备金来支持这些新的银行资金将在美联储的准备金账户上提出的索赔。

They make the loan first , and then later (if necessary) borrow any additional Reserves necessary to cover the claims.

他们首先发放贷款，然后（如有必要）借入任何必要的额外储备金来支付索赔。

In aggregate, then, the private banks decide how many bank-dollars are issued (based on their calculations for potential profits) and the FED responds by creating any new Reserve fiat dollars necessary to cover the resulting “clearing” processes in the system.

那么，总的来说，私人银行决定发行多少银行美元（基于他们对潜在利润的计算），而美联储则通过创建任何必要的新储备法定美元来应对系统中由此产生的“清算”流程。

The new Reserves are issued by the FED in exchange for collateral from the private banks.

新储备金由美联储发行，以换取私人银行的抵押品。

The collateral is held by the FED on what is known as its “balance sheet.” If it “expands its balance sheet,” it is creating new Reserves.

抵押品由美联储在所谓的“资产负债表”上持有。如果它“扩大资产负债表”，它就会创造新的储备。

If it “winds down” its balance sheet, it is trading collateral for existing Reserves—which it then simply “cancels,” erasing them from the system.

如果它“缩减”其资产负债表，它就是在用现有储备金交易抵押品，然后它就简单地“取消”现有储备金，将其从系统中删除。

(We’ll take a closer look at this odd-seeming cancelation of Reserves later.)

（稍后我们将仔细研究这种看似奇怪的储备金取消。）

As we noted in PART 1, banks are able to leverage the creation of many more bank-dollars than they have Reserves to back them up.

正如我们在第 1 部分中指出的那样，银行能够利用创造的银行美元远远多于它们支持的储备金。

The FED, then, is only required to issue new Reserves if that leverage changes.

那么，美联储只有在杠杆发生变化时才需要发行新的储备金。

One thing that would change the leverage is if private enterprise in America decided to expand its profit-making ventures—and the banks obliged by creating new bank-dollars exceeding the Reserve capacity of the aggregate “clearing” process.

会改变杠杆率的一件事是，如果美国的私营企业决定扩大其营利性企业，而银行则有义务创造超出总体“清算”过程储备能力的新银行美元。

When that happens, the FED, as a matter of course, issues the new Reserves that are necessary.

当这种情况发生时，美联储当然会发行必要的新储备金。

In the same way that private enterprise can “call upon” the FED to issue new Reserves to accomplish its goals, public enterprise can do the same.

正如私营企业可以“呼吁”美联储发行新的储备金以实现其目标一样，公共企业也可以这样做。

It goes about doing this, however, in a different way.

然而，它以不同的方式做到这一点。

The public enterprise process begins with the U.S. Congress—representing the democratic will of the American public—voting to undertake the production of some specified goods or services which benefit the whole society.

公共企业进程始于代表美国公众民主意愿的美国国会投票决定生产某些造福于整个社会的特定商品或服务。

(By implication, as already noted, these are goods or services which private enterprise deems unprofitable to produce.) Congress “appropriates” new dollars to be spent for the stated purpose.

（正如已经指出的，这意味着私营企业认为生产这些商品或服务无利可图。）国会“拨款”新的美元用于既定目的。

As the spending agent for Congress, the U.S. Treasury then sets about acquiring the new dollars that Congress has directed it to spend.

作为国会的支出代理人，美国财政部随后着手获取国会指示其支出的新美元。

It does this in coordinated partnership with the Federal Reserve system.

它与美联储系统协调合作来做到这一点。

This is one of the most labyrinthine parts of our edifice’s corridor system—and one of the most interesting.

这是我们大厦走廊系统中最迷宫般的部分之一，也是最有趣的部分之一。

So, now we’ll slow down to appreciate it.

所以，现在我们要放慢脚步来欣赏它。

(Hold tight to your brain-handles again!)

（再次抓紧你的大脑手柄！）

As we’ve noted, just like each of the private banks in the Reserve system, the U.S. Treasury has a Reserve account at the FED.

正如我们所指出的，就像储备系统中的每家私人银行一样，美国财政部在美联储设有储备账户。

This is the federal government’s spending account.

这是联邦政府的支出账户。

Where do the Reserves in the Treasury’s spending account come from?

财政部支出账户中的准备金从哪里来？

As we all know from personal experience, some of the Reserves in the Treasury’s account come from our payments of federal taxes.

众所周知，从个人经验来看，财政部账户中的一些储备金来自我们缴纳的联邦税。

In PART 1, we saw how writing your check to the IRS enables you to make claims on your bank’s Reserve account at the FED, causing some of your bank’s Reserves to be debited from its account and, in turn, credited to the Treasury’s Reserve account.

在第 1 部分中，我们了解了如何将支票写给 IRS，从而使您能够向您所在银行在美联储的准备金账户提出索赔，从而导致您银行的部分准备金从其账户中扣除，然后又记入财政部的准备金账户。

So that’s how the Treasury gets some of the spending money it needs when Congress gives it the order to buy goods and services for a specified goal of public enterprise.

因此，当国会下令财政部为公共企业的特定目标购买商品和服务时，财政部就是这样获得所需的一些支出资金的。

But Congress, as we all know, typically asks the Treasury to spend a great many more Reserves than it has collected in taxes.

但众所周知，国会通常要求财政部花费比其税收多得多的储备金。

(This, it turns out, is a necessity entailed by the unique evolution of the needs of modern society—a topic which will be a primary focus of PART 3 of this essay.) For now, we’ll just focus on the fact that, by virtue of Congress’ appropriations, the Treasury is compelled to acquire a substantial amount of additional Reserves—beyond what it has collected in taxes—in its spending account at the FED.

（事实证明，这是现代社会需求的独特演变所必然产生的——这个主题将成为本文第三部分的主要焦点。）现在，我们只关注这样一个事实：由于国会的拨款，财政部被迫在美联储的支出账户中获得大量额外的储备金——超出了其在税收中征收的储备金。

The Treasury doesn’t say to Congress, “Oh, sorry, we don’t have enough dollars to pay for that!”—just like the private bank doesn’t say to a well-heeled loan applicant, “That’s a great business proposition and resume, but we’re simply out of money at the moment!” (If you’ll notice, the Treasury only claims it’s about to run out of dollars when small-minded politicians play small-minded games to gain some small-minded advantage on the political stage.)

财政部不会对国会说：“哦，抱歉，我们没有足够的美元来支付这笔费用！”——就像私人银行不会对富有的贷款申请人说：“这是一个很棒的商业提议和简历，但我们现在只是缺钱！” （如果你注意到的话，财政部只会在心胸狭窄的政客玩心胸狭窄的游戏以在政治舞台上获得一些心胸狭窄的优势时声称它即将耗尽美元。）

Instead, when the Treasury is directed to spend more dollars than it has collected in taxes, it simply instigates its own unique process within the Federal Reserve System which compels additional Reserves to be credited to its spending account.

相反，当财政部被指示支出超过其税收的美元时，它只是在美联储系统内启动自己独特的流程，迫使额外的储备金记入其支出账户。

Here’s how it works:

它的工作原理如下：

The Treasury issues something which it uniquely has the capability of creating: a believable certificate of future Reserves called a “treasury bond.” This action commands a few moments of our attention: Anyone can create a “bond”—a written promise to pay a certain amount of dollars at some point in the future.

财政部发行其独特能力创造的东西：一种可信的未来储备凭证，称为“国债”。这一行动引起了我们的注意：任何人都可以创建“债券”——一份在未来某个时候支付一定金额美元的书面承诺。

But, for obvious reasons, not everyone’s such promise is equally believable.

但是，由于显而易见的原因，并不是每个人的这样的承诺都同样可信。

A corporate bond, for example, depends on the corporation’s ability to generate future profits to keep its promise.

例如，公司债券取决于公司创造未来利润以兑现承诺的能力。

“Junk bonds” are promises made by businesses who pose a substantial risk that they won’t be able to produce those profits necessary to redeem the bond.

“垃圾债券”是企业做出的承诺，这些企业面临巨大风险，无法产生赎回债券所需的利润。

A treasury bond, in contrast, is not a promise that depends on future profits at all, but only on the legal authority of the FED to issue new Reserves.

相比之下，国债根本不依赖于未来利润，而只依赖于美联储发行新储备金的法定权力。

But how are the future Reserves of the treasury bond converted into present Reserves in the Treasury’s spending account?

但国债的未来储备如何转换为财政部支出账户中的现有储备呢？

The Treasury, working in tandem with the Federal Reserve system, trades its future Reserve bonds for present Reserves, which are then credited to its spending account.

财政部与美联储系统合作，将未来的储备债券换成现有的储备，然后记入其支出账户。

This “trading” occurs on what is called an “open market”—which simply means (a) the entities are doing the trading voluntarily, and (b) the FED is not participating directly in the trading (bypassing the voluntary participants).

这种“交易”发生在所谓的“公开市场”上，这仅仅意味着（a）实体自愿进行交易，以及（b）美联储不直接参与交易（绕过自愿参与者）。

Some of the present Reserves the Treasury receives in trade are new Reserves, created by the FED, and some of them are existing Reserves that were residing in the various banks’ Reserve accounts.

财政部在贸易中收到的现有储备金中的一些是美联储创建的新储备金，其中一些是存在于各银行储备账户中的现有储备金。

Again, this requires a moment of our attention on two fronts: (1) Why would private banks want to trade their existing Reserves for future Reserves?

同样，这需要我们关注两个方面：（1）为什么私人银行想要用现有储备换取未来储备？

(2) If the FED is not allowed to participate directly, by what process do the FED’s new Reserves make their way into the spending account of the Treasury?

（2）如果不允许美联储直接参与，那么美联储的新增储备金通过什么程序进入财政部的支出账户？

To answer these questions, lets observe a treasury bond issue operation from where we now stand—at this particular intersection of corridors in the Federal Reserve edifice.

为了回答这些问题，让我们从我们现在所处的位置（美联储大厦走廊的这个特定交叉口）观察国债发行操作。

This is an important moment, so get your camera out if you want to take pictures.

这是一个重要的时刻，所以如果您想拍照，请拿出相机。

The first thing we notice, over in the direction of private enterprise, is that there are a lot of bank-dollars in private checking accounts that aren’t needed for rent, or car-payments, or groceries.

我们注意到的第一件事是，在私营企业的方向上，私人支票账户中有大量银行资金，这些资金不需要用于租金、汽车付款或杂货。

They’re surplus bank-dollars that are looking for a safe investment to hide in until, someday in the future, they need to be spent for something.

他们是过剩的银行资金，正在寻找安全的投资来隐藏，直到将来的某一天，他们需要花在某些事情上。

Where are those bank-dollars going to hide?

那些银行存款会藏到哪里呢？

Some of them will hide in the stock-market, but that’s a bit scary.

他们中的一些人会躲在股市里，但这有点可怕。

A lot of them, in fact, will want to hide in the future Reserve treasury bonds the Treasury is getting ready to issue.

事实上，他们中的很多人都希望隐藏在财政部准备发行的未来储备国债中。

When the Treasury issues its bonds, then, there is typically a substantial interest over in private enterprise to trade some of its bank-dollars for treasury bonds.

那么，当财政部发行债券时，私营企业通常会有很大兴趣将其部分银行资金换成国债。

As we know from PART 1, these bank-dollars are claims on existing Reserves at the FED.

正如我们从第 1 部分中所知，这些银行美元是对美联储现有储备的债权。

When the trade is made then, the claimed Reserves, represented by the traded bank-dollars, are credited to the Treasury’s spending account.

当交易进行时，所要求的储备金（以交易的银行美元为代表）将记入财政部的支出账户。

It’s important here to note three things: (1) This is a completely voluntary action on the part of private enterprise.

这里需要注意三点：（1）这是私营企业完全自愿的行为。

It is done purely out of self-interest, for the purpose of putting its surplus bank-dollars in a super-safe hiding place.

这样做纯粹是出于自身利益，目的是将其过剩的银行资金存放在一个超级安全的藏身之处。

(2) While the action is done out of self-interest, however, there’s an unnoticed “elephant in the corridor” as a result: By the act of trading existing Reserves for future Reserves, private enterprise is, in fact, INVESTING in the goals and undertakings of public enterprise.

（2）虽然这种行为是出于自身利益，但结果却出现了一个未被注意到的“走廊里的大象”：通过用现有储备换取未来储备的行为，私营企业实际上是在投资于公共企业的目标和事业。

This “elephant,” I think, is something you want for sure to snap a picture of!

我想，这头“大象”一定是你想要拍张照片的东西！

(3) In the bond-issue operation we’re now observing, the Treasury is needing to trade $30 billion in future Reserves for $30 billion in present Reserves—but private enterprise has only ponied up $10 billion.

(3) 在我们现在观察到的债券发行操作中，财政部需要用 300 亿美元的未来储备换取 300 亿美元的现有储备，但私营企业只支付了 100 亿美元。

Where will the additional $20 billion come from?

额外的200亿美元从哪里来？

The FED has a group of its largest private banks—called “Primary Dealers”—with which it has a special set of arrangements.

美联储拥有一批最大的私人银行（称为“主要交易商”），并与这些银行有一套特殊的安排。

Specifically, the Primary Dealer banks are the ones who manage the trades between the future Reserve treasury bonds and the existing bank Reserves.

具体来说，一级交易商银行是管理未来储备国债和现有银行储备之间交易的银行。

As part of the “arrangement,” it is understood that if all the Treasury’s bonds are not spoken for, some further trading is instigated, which the Primary Dealers participate in.

据了解，作为“安排”的一部分，如果财政部的所有债券都没有被兑现，则会引发一些进一步的交易，一级交易商会参与其中。

Namely, the following:

即，如下：

There’s one final thing to get your camera ready for: The FED now has on its balance sheet not the collateral of the Primary Dealers, but the $20 billion in future Reserve bonds issued by the Treasury.

最后一件事需要准备好相机：美联储资产负债表上现在的抵押品不是一级交易商的抵押品，而是财政部未来发行的 200 亿美元储备债券。

The FED holds these future Reserves on its balance sheet until the bonds mature—at which point the future Reserves must be made into present Reserves.

美联储将这些未来储备金保留在其资产负债表上，直到债券到期为止，此时未来储备金必须转入当前储备金。

What does the FED do then?

那么美联储会做什么呢？

It ought to do something that, on its face, seems rather silly: It ought to issue $20 billion in new Reserves and pay them to itself (since it is holding the bonds that just matured).

它应该做一些表面上看起来相当愚蠢的事情：它应该发行 200 亿美元的新储备金并将其支付给自己（因为它持有刚刚到期的债券）。

But the FED has no need for Reserves because it is not a “spender” of Reserves, but only the “issuer” of Reserves.

但美联储不需要储备金，因为它不是储备金的“支出者”，而只是储备金的“发行者”。

The FED doesn’t even have an account to keep Reserves in—for the simple reason that when the system calls for new Reserves, it is authorized to issue them by pushing buttons on an electronic keyboard.

美联储甚至没有一个账户来保存储备金，原因很简单，当系统需要新的储备金时，美联储有权通过按下电子键盘上的按钮来发行储备金。

To keep from looking silly, then, trying to deal with something it has no need for, nor any place to keep, the FED simply cancels the treasury bonds it is holding—and the $20 billion in future Reserves are never made “real.”

因此，为了避免显得愚蠢，美联储试图处理不需要、也没有地方保存的东西，干脆取消其持有的国债——而 200 亿美元的未来储备金永远不会成为“真实的”。

The same thing happens when the FED “winds-down” its balance sheet (as we observed earlier)—trading collateral it has received in exchange for Reserves in the private banking system: The FED simply makes the trade, then cancels the Reserves it has received—essentially “reincorporating” them into its mandate to create Reserves as necessity (and either private or public enterprise) calls for.

当美联储“缩减”其资产负债表时也会发生同样的事情（正如我们之前所观察到的）——用其收到的抵押品来换取私人银行系统中的准备金：美联储只是进行交易，然后取消其收到的准备金——本质上是将它们“重新纳入”其根据需要（无论是私人企业还是公共企业）的要求创建准备金的任务中。

There’s not anything further we really need to see on our tour of the Federal Reserve money system.

在我们的美联储货币体系之旅中，我们没有什么真正需要看到的。

We’ve observed all that’s necessary, I think, to now have (in PART 3 of this essay) a meaningful discussion of what’s REALLY important: why we can , in fact, as a collective society, “afford” to pay ourselves to undertake and accomplish what’s necessary to actually address the five, money-intensive, life-defining dilemmas America now confronts: (1) climate change (2) healthcare (3) student debt (4) early child-hood care and development (5) affordable housing.

我认为，我们已经观察到了所有必要的内容，现在（在本文的第三部分）对真正重要的事情进行有意义的讨论：事实上，作为一个集体社会，为什么我们能够“负担得起”自己承担和完成所需的工作，以真正解决美国现在面临的五个资金密集型、决定生活的困境：（1）气候变化（2）医疗保健（3）学生债务（4）幼儿保育和发展（5）经济适用房。

Please feel free, by the way, to add to this list—but before we argue priorities, let’s understand and agree that we unequivocally DO have the financial resources, as a democratic society, to confront them.

顺便说一句，请随意添加到这个列表中——但在我们争论优先事项之前，让我们理解并同意，作为一个民主社会，我们明确地拥有财政资源来应对这些问题。