But consider another way of viewing the crisis and our financial institutions: the financial system was never all that far from the cliff’s edge, even before 2008, because the tax system encouraged financial firms to overload themselves with debt. They generally managed themselves and their risks well, so they did not fall.
但不妨换一个角度看待危机和我们的金融机构：金融系统距离悬崖边缘从未如此之远，即使是在2008年之前。这是因为税收制度鼓励金融企业过度负债。总体而言，它们很好地管理着它们自己和它们的风险，因此它们不会掉下去。但此后，在通往危机的过程中，它们出现了误算，承担了太多的短期债务，过度投资于高风险证券。增加的风险将金融系统推过了触发点，但根本问题在于它始终囤积着太多的高风险债务。