[00:00:01] The Economy and the Human Spirit - 英语演讲
[00:00:05] Commencement Address by Richard C. Levin
[00:00:09] at Yale University
[00:00:13] When I welcomed you four years ago,
[00:00:15] you were exhilarated but apprehensive,
[00:00:18] excited to be taking on a new challenge,
[00:00:21] but more than a little intimidated -
[00:00:24] awed by the imposing architecture of this place,
[00:00:28] by the grandeur of this hall,
[00:00:30] by the rumble of its great organ,
[00:00:32] and by the dazzling accomplishment of your classmates,
[00:00:36] who all seemed to you to belong here,
[00:00:40] even if you were not quite sure about yourself.
[00:00:43] Now, appropriately, you feel as if you own the place;
[00:00:48] every corner of your college,
[00:00:50] every face in the dining hall,
[00:00:52] is familiar to you.
[00:00:53] You have made close friends,
[00:00:55] and you have memories you will never forget.
[00:00:59] While all this happened to you
[00:01:01] the world around you was flourishing.
[00:01:04] And Yale was flourishing, too -
[00:01:06] building and renovating at an astonishing pace,
[00:01:10] adding new international programs,
[00:01:12] and enhancing financial aid to make the whole experience
[00:01:16] a lighter burden on your families.
[00:01:20] Who would have imagined, four years ago,
[00:01:23] that the world economy would collapse?
[00:01:28] As you leave here, it is hard not to
[00:01:32] think about this unhappy reality.
[00:01:34] So, as an economist and as your president,
[00:01:38] I would like to offer you my perspective on
[00:01:41] what has happened and what it means for you.
[00:01:45] The world economy is a mess.
[00:01:48] In the United States, we have experienced
[00:01:52] the sharpest reduction in gross domestic product
[00:01:55] in five decades, and the ride is not yet over.
[00:01:59] As many of you know all too well, jobs are scarce.
[00:02:02] Within the past year,
[00:02:05] the unemployment rate has increased from 5.0% to 8.9%,
[00:02:11] and, unfortunately, it is more likely
[00:02:13] than not to exceed 10% before declining again.
[00:02:19] How did we get here?
[00:02:24] Not, I believe, because of any inherent flaws
[00:02:27] in the nature of the market system.
[00:02:28] This is a very important point.
[00:02:31] Indeed, the ascendancy of markets,
[00:02:35] the relative demise of centrally-planned economies
[00:02:38] over the past thirty years,
[00:02:40] the opening of nations to freer international trade
[00:02:44] and investment, and the rapid advance of science and technology
[00:02:48] have led to unprecedented levels of global economic growth.
[00:02:53] Even in the midst of this downturn
[00:02:56] it is crucial to remember that more people,
[00:02:59] both in absolute terms and as a percentage
[00:03:03] of the world’s population have crossed the poverty line
[00:03:07] in the past thirty years than in any previous period of history.
[00:03:12] The cause of the current crisis is less fundamental:
[00:03:18] we accumulated too much debt - mortgages,
[00:03:22] credit card debt, corporate debt,
[00:03:25] debt to support financial speculation,
[00:03:27] and government debt. From January 1981,
[00:03:32] when Ronald Reagan took office,
[00:03:35] to September 2008 the ratio of total national debt -
[00:03:39] public and private - grew steadily from 160% to
[00:03:44] nearly 360% of gross domestic product.
[00:03:51] As we have seen all too painfully,
[00:03:55] when individuals have lots of debt,
[00:03:58] declining asset prices trigger delinquencies,
[00:04:01] defaults, housing foreclosures,
[00:04:04] personal bankruptcies, corporate bankruptcies,
[00:04:07] and bank insolvency.
[00:04:09] Financial institutions lack the capital and
[00:04:14] the confidence to make new loans.
[00:04:15] Consumers and businesses reduce their spending.
[00:04:18] Company profits and stock values fall.
[00:04:22] Output and income decline, and wealth evaporates
[00:04:26] because the promise of future earnings
[00:04:29] that supports the valuation of assets
[00:04:31] is no longer credible.
[00:04:33] This is where we are now,
[00:04:36] with our national wealth - personal and institutional -
[00:04:40] down by more than 25%. Virtually every family
[00:04:46] in this hall has felt the impact of
[00:04:49] this disastrous sequence of consequences.
[00:04:52] History teaches that all credit expansions
[00:04:57] are followed by recessions or depressions.
[00:04:57] It also teaches that recovery follows recession.
[00:05:05] The right mix of government policies
[00:05:07] can make recovery happen faster.
[00:05:09] But, in the end, fast or slow, we will recover,
[00:05:13] as long as the market is allowed to
[00:05:16] direct the immensely creative and productive forces
[00:05:19] embodied in emerging technologies
[00:05:22] and in our educated citizens including you,
[00:05:26] in particular. It will get better.
[00:05:29] It is just a question of when.
[00:05:32] Meanwhile, you may be wondering
[00:05:38] why you had the bad luck to graduate now.
[00:05:38] I know that the process of finding a first job
[00:05:42] has been more difficult and stressful for you t
[00:05:45] han for your immediate predecessors,
[00:05:48] and I know that many of you do not yet
[00:05:50] have definite plans for the year ahead.
[00:05:53] But do not be discouraged.
[00:05:55] There are exciting opportunities waiting for you,
[00:05:59] and little reason for despair.
[00:06:01] I want to reassure you and your parents
[00:06:04] that the investment of time, energy,
[00:06:07] and money that you have made in your Yale education
[00:06:10] will be abundantly repaid.
[00:06:14] It will be repaid in a material sense;
[00:06:16] it will reward you with personal fulfillment,
[00:06:20] and, most important, it has prepared you for lives
[00:06:24] of service to family, community, the nation, and the world.
[00:06:30] To put matters in perspective, remember
[00:06:34] that you came here to reflect on the world around you,
[00:06:39] to expose yourselves to new ways of thinking,
[00:06:41] to encounter brilliant teachers,
[00:06:44] to make use of extraordinary library
[00:06:47] and museum resources, to develop the capacity
[00:06:50] to think critically, to express yourselves clearly,
[00:06:54] and to find, both in the classroom
[00:06:57] and in extracurricular pursuits,
[00:06:59] the passions that motivate you.
[00:07:02] You have done all this and more.
[00:07:05] By encountering classmates from all 50 states
[00:07:09] and 41 nations, you have learned to appreciate
[00:07:13] the diversity of human talents and perspectives.
[00:07:16] Thanks to Yale’s extensive array of international programs,
[00:07:21] the great majority of you have had a chance
[00:07:24] to experience life in a different culture.
[00:07:26] You are not just four years older;
[00:07:29] by virtue of what you have learned about
[00:07:32] the world around you and about yourselves,
[00:07:34] you are immensely more capable of taking on life’s challenges.
[00:07:39] You may doubt my conclusion at this bittersweet moment of separation.
[00:07:45] But believe me, you are ready to leave.
[00:07:48] And think of all the exciting possibilities
[00:07:53] that are open to you.
[00:07:54] Let us start by noticing that there has been
[00:07:59] a dramatic change in our national agenda,
[00:08:01] the most significant change of course
[00:08:04] in nearly thirty years.
[00:08:06] Whatever your political persuasion,
[00:08:09] if you care about health care, education,
[00:08:13] or the sustainability of the planet,
[00:08:15] now is the time to get involved.
[00:08:18] Think about opportunities to engage with these issues -
[00:08:22] either in government or in the private sector,
[00:08:25] whether for-profit or non-profit.
[00:08:28] The years immediately ahead are going to
[00:08:31] have consequences for a long time to come.
[00:08:35] Some of you are already responding to this call.
[00:08:40] The number of you enlisted to serve in Teach for America,
[00:08:44] the largest single employer of Yale College graduates,
[00:08:48] has more than doubled in the last two years.
[00:08:51] In America’s schools, there are promising signs
[00:08:55] of reform all around, led by the spectacular success
[00:09:00] of new approaches that instill confidence
[00:09:03] and a drive for achievement in the most disadvantaged of our youth.
[00:09:08] Whether it is the charter school models introduced
[00:09:12] by organizations such as KIPP in New York City
[00:09:16] and Achievement First here in New Haven,
[00:09:19] or public school reforms associated with
[00:09:23] a wide array of family services
[00:09:25] as in the Harlem Children’s Zone,
[00:09:28] we are seeing powerful evidence of improved performance.
[00:09:34] As the new administration and some of our largest
[00:09:37] foundations continue to embrace these new ideas,
[00:09:41] more opportunities will arise to engage you.
[00:09:44] You might think about following
[00:09:48] in the footsteps of Yale graduates David Levin,
[00:09:51] the co-founder of KIPP, or Dacia Toll,
[00:09:56] the co-founder of Achievement First,
[00:09:59] and contributing to the renaissance of primary
[00:10:02] and secondary education in the United States.
[00:10:05] Or think about helping to address the challenge of global warming.
[00:10:12] In America and elsewhere around the globe,
[00:10:15] there is going to be massive public
[00:10:18] and private investment in new energy technologies.
[00:10:21] This will create tremendous opportunities not only
[00:10:25] for those of you interested in science,
[00:10:27] engineering, or public policy but also for
[00:10:31] those of you interested in business,
[00:10:34] where you might help launch entrepreneurial “cleantech” startups,
[00:10:38] or make established businesses greener
[00:10:41] and more socially responsible.
[00:10:44] In this arena you might take as your model Yale graduates
[00:10:49] like Frances Beinecke, executive director
[00:10:52] of the Natural Resources Defense Council,
[00:10:55] or Kevin Czinger, whose company, Miles Electric Vehicles,
[00:11:00] is one of several hoping to be first to the market
[00:11:04] with an all-electric car suitable for
[00:11:08] highway driving and daily commuting.
[00:11:10] Or perhaps, as America adopts a new
[00:11:15] and more collaborative approach to foreign policy,
[00:11:18] you might think about building a career
[00:11:20] that contributes to greater international cooperation
[00:11:24] and understanding. Legions of Yale graduates
[00:11:28] before you have pursued this noble calling:
[00:11:31] from Sargent Shriver, the founder of the Peace Corps,
[00:11:35] to Joseph Reed, longtime Undersecretary General
[00:11:39] of the United Nations, to career diplomats like John Negroponte,
[00:11:39] to our current Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
[00:11:49] Perhaps the Peace Corps, the military,
[00:11:52] or the foreign service would be a good first step toward such a career.
[00:11:58] I was vividly reminded of the abundance of opportunities
[00:12:03] before you just two months ago,
[00:12:06] when I convened a group of Yale alumni
[00:12:09] in Silicon Valley to advise me on
[00:12:12] how the University might take better advantage of
[00:12:15] new media in carrying out its educational mission.
[00:12:19] Around the table were Yale graduates
[00:12:22] who have been instrumental in the founding
[00:12:25] and development of companies such as Microsoft,
[00:12:28] Palm, RealNetworks, Electronic Arts, and Facebook.
[00:12:34] Having come to California fresh from
[00:12:38] a series of gloomy meetings with Yale graduates
[00:12:41] in the New York financial community,
[00:12:43] I was astounded by the unbridled optimism
[00:12:47] of those in the new media and technology business.
[00:12:52] The prospects for investment, they told me,
[00:12:54] have never been better. The cost of launching
[00:12:57] a media business, thanks to the development
[00:13:00] of widely available software platforms and tools,
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