生意人，查理跟我对于竞争对手可能没有资金进行资本支出来感到欣喜。
You might think that waving away a major expense such as depreciation in an attempt to make a terrible deal look like a good one hits the limits of Wall Street's ingenuity。 If so； you haven't been paying attention during the past few years。 Promoters needed to find a way to justify even pricier acquisitions。 Otherwise； they risked … heaven forbid！ … losing deals to other promoters with more 〃imagination。〃
或许你会认为排除一项主要的费用诸如折旧等使得原本一桩很烂的交易变成不错的交易，是华尔街聪明才智极致的表现，，那你可能是完全没有注意到华尔街过去几年的发展，支持者必须再找到一个更有看头的做法，来合理解释价格更离谱的购并案，不然的话，他们就必须冒犯最严重的天条…被其它更有”创意”的支持者把生意抢走。
So； stepping through the Looking Glass； promoters and their investment bankers proclaimed that EBDIT should now be measured against cash interest only； which meant that interest accruing on zero…coupon or PIK bonds could be ignored when the financial feasibility of a transaction was being assessed。 This approach not only relegated depreciation expense to the let's…ignore…it corner； but gave similar treatment to what was usually a significant portion of interest expense。 To their shame； many professional investment managers went along with this nonsense； though they usually were careful to do so only with clients' money； not their own。 （Calling these managers 〃professionals〃 is actually too kind； they should be designated 〃promotees。〃）
所以穿过外面的那道玻璃，支持者与其投资银行宣称EBDIT应该可以只跟要付的利息做比较就好，意思是说在评估一项投资案的时候，那些记帐不须马上支付的利息根本就可以不必纳入考量，这样的方式不但是把折旧丢到没人注意的角落边，还将大部分的利息费用用同样的方式对待，可耻的是，许多专业投资银行家竟然昧着良心附和，反正只要确定这是客户而不是他们自己的钱就好，（称呼这群人为专业人士实在是太恭维他们了，他们应该被归类为抬轿者）。
Under this new standard； a business earning； say； 100 million pre…tax and having debt on which 90 million of interest must be paid currently； might use a zero…coupon or PIK issue to incur another 60 million of annual interest that would accrue and pound but not e due for some years。 The rate on these issues would typically be very high； which means that the situation in year 2 might be 90 million cash interest plus 69 million accrued interest； and so on as the pounding proceeds。 Such high…rate reborrowing schemes； which a few years ago were appropriately confined to the waterfront； soon became models of modern finance at virtually all major investment banking houses。
在这种新的标准之下，一家公司假设税前有1亿美元的获利，同时最近一年有9千万的利息支出，大可以运用零息债券或是PIK债券来额外负担6千万只要记帐却不须马上支付利息与本金，而这种债券的利率通常非常高，到了第二年，公司可能要承担9千万的付现息与6；900万的记帐息，之后随着复利记帐息持续增加，而这种高利率的融资计画，在刚开始几年还能获得有效控制，但不久之后就变成所有大型投资银行必备推荐给客户的标准融资工具。
When they make these offerings； investment bankers display their humorous side： They dispense ine and balance sheet projections extending five or more years into the future for panies they barely had heard of a few months earlier。 If you are shown such schedules； I suggest that you join in the fun： Ask the investment banker for the one…year budgets that his own firm prepared as the last few years began and then pare these with what actually happened。
当他们推出这样的新案子时，投资银行展现他们幽默的一面，他们将损益表与资产负债表的预估展延为五年或甚至更长的一段期间，虽然在几个月之前，他们可能连这家公司的名字都没听过，我想如果你那天碰到这种预估表，我建议你可以参与这样的游戏：跟这位投资银行家要一份他们自己公司的过去几年的年度预算，然后跟他们实际的结果必较一下，你就知道是什么回事了。
Some time ago Ken Galbraith； in his witty and insightful The Great Crash； coined a new economic term： 〃the bezzle；〃 defined as the current amount of undiscovered embezzlement。 This financial creature has a magical quality： The embezzlers are richer by the amount of the bezzle； while the embezzlees do not yet feel poorer。
许久以前Ken Galbraith在他的名著「大恐慌」中，发明了一个新的经济名词…Bezzle，用来代表现有未被发现的贪污舞弊，这种财经现象有一个很奇特的特质，那就是贪污舞弊者因为贪污舞弊而发大财，但问题是受害者却一点也没有被剥夺变穷的感觉。
Professor Galbraith astutely pointed out that this sum should be added to the National Wealth so that we might know the Psychic National Wealth。 Logically； a society that wanted to feel enormously prosperous would both encourage its citizens to embezzle and try not to detect the crime。 By this means； 〃wealth〃 would balloon though not an erg of productive work had been done。
Galbraith教授真知卓见地点出大家应该把这个数字统计一下，加进国民财富当中，从而我们可以知道心理上的国民财富为多少，理论上一个社会若想要觉得自己经济繁荣发展就应该多多鼓励人民去贪污舞弊，并试着不要去揭发它，透过这种方式，一个国家的财富可以大幅地增长，虽然实际上它什么有生产力的事都没做。
The satirical nonsense of the bezzle is dwarfed by the real…world nonsense of the zero…coupon bond。 With zeros； one party to a contract can experience 〃ine〃 without his opposite experiencing the pain of expenditure。 In our illustration； a pany capable of earning only 100 million dollars annually … and therefore capable of paying only that much in interest … magically creates 〃earnings〃 for bondholders of 150 million。 As long as major investors willingly don their Peter Pan wings and repeatedly say 〃I believe；〃 there is no limit to how much 〃ine〃 can be created by the zero…coupon bond。
但是这种不合理的贪污舞弊，在现实社会中却被零息债券给比了下去，利用这些”零”一家公司可以大大方方靠着这纸签约，利用借款享受所带来的收入，但另外一方面却不知承担支付支出的痛苦，以我们先前提到的例子，一家每年可以赚1亿美元的公司，利用这种方法，在债券投资人的面前，却可以把膨胀到1亿5；000万美元，只要投资人愿意充当彼得潘，不断地说「我相信你」，只要你愿意零息债券所创造的收入是没有上限的。
Wall Street weled this invention with the enthusiasm less…enlightened folk might reserve for the wheel or the plow。 Here； finally； was an instrument that would let the Street make deals at prices no longer limited by actual earning power。 The result； obviously； would be more transactions： Silly prices will always attract sellers。 And； as Jesse Unruh might have put it； transactions are the mother's milk of finance。
华尔街以热情拥抱这项新的发明，后知后觉的人可能就准备等着卷铺盖走路，终于在这里大家找到一个可以不必理会公司实际获利能力的融资方法，结果很明显，当然就会有更多的生意上门，离谱的价格一定有卖家愿意出，就像Jesse Unruh可能会说的一句话，交易就像是金融世界的母奶。
The zero…coupon or PIK bond possesses one additional attraction for the promoter and investment banker； which is that the time elapsing between folly and failure can be stretched out。 This is no small benefit。 If the period before all costs must be faced is long； promoters can create a string of foolish deals … and take in lots of fees … before any chickens e home to roost from their earlier ventures。
此外零息与PIK债券还有一项特点使得支持者与银行家更愿意推行，就是东窗事发的时间可以再延长，这点可是相当的重要，如果交易所衍生的后果要很长一段时间才会浮现，那么支持者就可以在这段期间做更多的交易，从中赚取更多的手续费，直到事件东窗事发之前。
But in the end； alchemy； whether it is metallurgical or financial； fails。 A base business can not be transformed into a golden business by tricks of accounting or capital structure。 The man claiming to be a financial alchemist may bee rich。 But gullible investors rather than business achievements will usually be the source of his wealth。
不过到最后，炼金术，不管是冶金的或是财务上的，终究是会落空，一个烂公司不可能只靠着会计或财务技巧而摇身一变成为好公司，那个宣称会炼金术的财务专业人士或许会发大财，但他靠的却是容易上当的投资人而不是企业经营。
Whatever their weaknesses； we should add； many zero…coupon and PIK bonds will not default。 We have in fact owned some and may buy more if their market bees sufficiently distressed。 （We've not； however； even considered buying a new issue from a weak credit。） No financial instrument is evil per se； it's just that some variations have far more potential for mischief than others。
不过这些债券有多少缺点，但我们却必须承认许多零息与PIK债券