Rather than estimate the economic value of banks’ assets – what the assets would fetch in a well-functioning market – and the extent to which they exceed liabilities, the stress tests merely sought to verify that the banks’ accounting losses over the next two years will not exhaust their capital as recorded in their books. As long as banks are permitted to operate this way, the banks’ supervisors are betting on the banks’ ability to earn their way out of their current problems – even if the value of their assets doesn’t now significantly exceed their liabilities.
本次压力测试忽视了银行资产的经济价值——也就是资产是否能在有效的市场环境中运行——和他们可以承受的程度，它仅仅测试银行在未来的两年中，如果继续亏损，能否顺利渡过难关而存活下来。按照这样的测试结果，为了摆脱目前的经济困境，银行的高管们就会放手一博，而不顾及实际真实资产的状况。