《股票作手回忆录·第九章·1907大恐慌·做空封神》第19节
Finally it became plain that there was no use in waiting at the Post for money. There wasn’t going to be any. Then hell broke loose. The president of the Stock Exchange, Mr. R. H. Thomas, so I heard later in the day, knowing that every house in the Street was headed for disaster, went out in search of succour. He called on James Stillman, president of the National City Bank, the richest bank in the United States. Its boast was that it never loaned money at a higher rate than 6 per cent. Stillman heard what the president of the New York Stock Exchange had to say. Then he said, “Mr. Thomas, we’ll have to go and see Mr. Morgan about this.” The two men, hoping to stave off the most disastrous panic in our financial history, went together to the office of J. P. Morgan & Co. and saw Mr. Morgan, Mr. Thomas laid the case before him. The moment he got through speaking Mr. Morgan said, “Go back to the Exchange and tell them that there will be money for them.” “Where?” “At the banks!” So strong was the faith of all men in Mr. Morgan in those critical times that Thomas didn’t wait for further details but rushed back to the floor of the Exchange to announce the reprieve to his death-sentenced fellow members.
注释摘要
这段文字记录的是1907年大恐慌中最具戏剧性的转折点——市场流动性彻底枯竭，整个华尔街命悬一线，直到一个人的意志力临时接管了局面。我们先说清楚这不是投资建议，书中描写的是百年前特定历史条件下的极端事件，那种逼空逼到整个金融系统濒临崩溃的情形，在今天高度监管的现代市场中几乎不可能以同样方式重现。任何读到这段的人都不应该幻想自己能复制这种时刻的所谓“权力感”，…