In 1955 the economist John Kenneth Galbraith(约翰·肯尼斯·加尔布雷思，著名经济学家) wrote of the “inventory of undiscovered embezzlement(贪污，挪用公款)” that tends to grow during periods of market euphoria. The “bezzle(贪污存量（加尔布雷思造词）)”, as Galbraith called it, is exposed when the good times end and “commercial morality(商业道德) is enormously improved”.
1955年，经济学家约翰·肯尼斯·加尔布雷思提出了“未发现贪污存量”的概念，该存量在市场繁荣时期往往会增长。加尔布雷思所称的“贪污存量”在好日子结束时暴露出来，此时“商业道德得到极大提升”。
Past bubbles and crashes have indeed led to a bumper crop(大丰收，大量) of white-collar prosecutions (think Enron and WorldCom after the dotcom boom). If Galbraith was right, today’s frothy(泡沫般的，虚高的) valuations suggest bezzlers may be lurk(潜伏，隐藏)ing in the shadows. But what if their mischief(恶作剧，损害) is never discovered? That is the grand experiment on which America has lately embarked.(这就是美国最近开始的一项宏大实验。)
过去的泡沫和崩溃确实导致了大量白领犯罪起诉（想想互联网繁荣后的安然和世通）。如果加尔布雷思是对的，那么今天泡沫般的估值表明，贪污者可能潜伏在暗处。但如果他们的恶作剧从未被发现呢？这就是美国最近开始的一项宏大实验。
In the six months to the end of March federal prosecutor(检察官，公诉人)s brought 2,008 white-collar crime cases, putting them on course for a little over 4,000 by the end of the government’s fiscal year in September, according to figures from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a data repository. That would be a drop of a sixth from five years ago and half from 20 years ago (see chart). It is tempting to lay such figures at the feet of Donald Trump, whose dismantling of the Department of Justice has not helped.(人们很容易将这些数字归咎于唐纳德·特朗普，他拆解司法部的做法无助于事。) But the decline precede(先于，在……之前)s him—and may continue well after.
根据数据存储库“交易记录访问清算所”（TRAC）的数据，在截至3月底的六个月内，联邦检察官提起了2008起白领犯罪案件，按此速度，到9月政府财政年度结束时，案件总数将略超4000起。这比五年前下降了六分之一，比20年前下降了一半（见图表）。人们很容易将这些数字归咎于唐纳德·特朗普，他拆解司法部的做法无助于事。但这一下降早于他——而且可能在他之后持续很久。