What Europe is trying to do in Portugal and Greece is reminiscent of central banks’ futile efforts in past decades to keep exchange rates away from the market equilibrium price level. Some central banks, such as the Bank of England in its unsuccessful fight against George Soros in 1992, got burned; when it became clear how much money was required to buck the market, the policy was abandoned.
欧洲试图对葡萄牙和希腊所做之事让人想起了各国央行在过去几十年里徒劳地意欲将汇率维持在远离市场均衡价格的水平。有的央行为此付出了沉重代价，比如，英格兰银行在1992年被乔治·索罗斯击溃，当它终于了解到维持汇率需要耗费多少资金时，它放弃了原有政策。