英国之病,谁人能救

Patient Tango receives repeated stimulation. She is economically hyperactive, rushing to get her constantly increasing wages in the hospital shop (she is rarely allowed to go out). Her doctors say her ratios are wonderfully improved since her debt restructuring. Rather like Britain’s Patient Morris – now in a seedy hospital after a spell in the casualty department – she had been living way beyond her means. In the eurozone, Fado has been forced to stop and seems barely to be living at all. Tango has tried a different response, deciding those to whom she owes money are vultures, and it would be outrageous to pay them back, which has done wonders for her debt-to-gross domestic product number. They, in turn, do not seem that keen to pay for her treatment.
病人探戈（Tango，指阿根廷）不断接受刺激疗法。现在她患上了经济“多动症”，虽然薪水不断升高，但一拿到手就往医院的商店跑（她几乎不能离开医院）。她的医生表示，自从实施债务重组以来，她的债务比率已神奇地大幅降低。与英国病人莫里斯（Patient Morris）很相像的是，探戈以前花钱如流水，过着入不敷出的生活；莫里斯经急救科诊疗一段时间后，已被转到一家破旧的医院。在欧元区，法多被迫停止，看上去毫无生气。探戈则尝试了不同的诊治思路，她认定自己的债权人是趁火打劫的家伙，还债给他们是没有道理的，于是，其债务对国内生产总值(GDP)比率奇迹般地降低。反过来，债权人似乎也不愿意为她支付治疗费用。

Morris has been for many years a patient under Dr King, an old-fashioned GP who used to tell him he was in fair health while warning him not to eat and drink so much. Now, after his heart attack, Dr King says he had been urging him to lose weight for years. Dr King is retiring and Dr Carney, new to the practice, is considering electroconvulsive therapy. He believes patients feel better if they are told they will be flat on their back for a long time. From time to time the saturnine registrar, a Mr Osborne, drops in and discusses amputation.
多年来，莫里斯一直在接受金医生(Dr King)的诊治。金医生总是一边告诉莫里斯他的身体非常健康，一边又警告他不要暴饮暴食。如今，在莫里斯心脏病发作之后，金医生说，自己多年来一直在敦促他减肥。金医生就要退休了，即将上任的卡尼医生(Dr Carney)正在考虑施用电休克疗法。卡尼医生相信，如果告诉病人们他们需要卧床很长时间，他们会感觉好一些。每隔一段时间，脸色阴郁的专科住院医生奥斯本(Osborne)会过来查房，讨论是否要截肢。

Dear old Morris was put on a version of Fado’s regime, but with a much lower dose. Unlike Fado, he is not in a near-comatose state but he is not getting much stronger either. The temptation to switch to something more like Tango therapy, though without the un-British excess of default, is clearly growing.
吃尽了苦头的老莫里斯被迫接受了法多那样的疗法，但用药剂量要低得多。与法多不同的是，莫里斯还没到接近昏迷的状态，但他也没有变得更有气力。对莫里斯来说，探戈式疗法（剔除违约这种英国人不齿的过激行为之后）的诱惑力显然在不断增长。

In Portugal, the quantity and velocity of money in circulation are both down; in Argentina, both are rising rapidly. Neither presents an attractive example. In Britain the Bank of England has prevented the quantity from falling too far, but seems unable to get the money moving. A little well-targeted fiscal relaxation feels less risky at this stage than more monetary experimentation. Doctors are enjoined, above all, to do no harm.
在葡萄牙，货币流通量和流通速度都在下降；在阿根廷，两者都在快速上升。这两种状况都不令人向往。在英国，英国央行已采取措施阻止货币流通量下降太多，但似乎无力加快货币流通速度。现阶段实施少量有针对性的财政宽松政策，比更多货币政策试验的风险要低一些。毕竟，医生的使命首先是不加重病情。