THERE IS NO REASON WHY WE SHOULD RESCUE THE BANKS

        John Ralston Saul

The magazine “Utne Reader” has named him as one of the one hundred most important thinkers of the world. He is the President of PEN International and has recently been interviewed by the weekly Spanish magazine “EL PAÍS SEMANAL”.

http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/02/04/eps/1359975187_178411.html

VOCABULARY AND IDIOMS:

Argument

To highlight

Magazine

Debt

Role

To rescue

Instead of

Growth

To save

Current

Policy

Mortgage

To corrode

To reset

To spend

To end up

Envelope

To suggest

Drawer

To lock

To throw away

To beat

To get rid of

·        Discurso sin paños calientes: don’t beat around the bush.

·        Aplicar las siguientes recetas: apply the following metods

·        Hablar sin pelos en la lengua: not to mince words

·        Pasar página: turn the page

 

I would like to bring here some of the important arguments that have been highlighted by Joseba Elola who has written an article in that weekly magazine. Joseba Elola describes J. R. Saul as a tall, thin and smart man with a dandy stile and who doesn’t beat around the bush. He doesn’t mince his words.

-         John Ralston believes that countries should reconsider what a debt is as well as the role that banks play in the new world.

-         He proposes that citizens should be rescued instead of the banks.

-         He says we find ourselves in a dark period of the economy and “they” continue using the same methods everywhere (Governments must control their expenses –austerity- and the economy must grow). He believes that growth and austerity can’t save us from this current situation. This is putting democracy in danger.

# The interviewer asks him a question: Should we save the banks? He responds that there is no reason why we should save them.

A good policy is that the government pays people’s mortgages.

He believes that if you pay people’s mortgages, you will also save the banks. People would keep their houses and could spend their money as consumers.

# European Union is corroded by debt. He wants to bring “the debt” to an end. “They” can’t admit that they made a mistake. He asks himself, ‘How can we reset the watch?’. He suggests that, basically we should put “the debt” inside an envelope and put on it: “this is very important”, put the envelope in a drawer, lock it and throw the key away. “We must turn page, we must beat it”.  If the private sector can get rid of the debt, the public sector can too.

http://recursostic.educacion.es/bancoimagenes/web/

#TRUE OR FALSE EXERCISE:

-         Saul is described as a tall, thin and fashionable man: T   F

-         Ralston believes it is better to save banks rather than people: T  F

-         He thinks the establishment keeps on using the same methods: T   F

-         It is a good policy to pay people mortgages instead of giving the money directly to banks:  T   F

-         Democracy is not now in danger: T   F

-         Governments shouldn’t “reset” most of the debts: T   F

-         Austerity is going to take out of the current crisis: T   F

# PUT THE WORDS IN THE CORRECT ORDER

-         He/ not/ beat/ does/ bush/ the/ around

-         find/ We/ in/ a/ ourselves/ period/ dark/ economy/ of/ the

-         houses/ People / would/ their/  keep

-         “They”/a / mistake/ can’t/ made/ admit/ that/ they/

-         page/ We /must /turn missing a word?

Texto escrito por Mª Isabel Pérez Ortega

Corrección textos en inglés por Samantha  Potts

Málaga, 5 de febrero del 2013