评论
打印
Business
商业
Bakers and chaebol in South Korea
韩国的糕点店与财阀
Let them eat cake
让小店也分一杯羹
A half-baked effort to curb the conglomerates
控制财阀的笨办法
SOME parents give their children cakes. A few give them cake shops.
有些父母会给孩子买蛋糕吃，而有一些则会给他们开蛋糕店。
The hot topic in South Korea is the trend for daughters and grand-daughters of chaebol families to open bakeries and other small food outlets.
如今，韩国人热议的话题是财阀家族纷纷给他们的女儿和孙女们开糕点店和其他小型饮食店。
The chaebol are the conglomerates that dominate the Korean economy, so these plutocratic patissières have deeper pockets than any of the little bakers they compete against.
这些财阀都是掌控韩国经济命脉的企业集团，所以这些糕点商的财力比任何一家与之竞争的小糕点店都要雄厚。
Their baking has provoked outrage.
财阀纷纷开糕点店的行为激怒了人们。
Lee Myung-bak, South Korea's president, calls it a "hobby" business for rich girls that threatens the livelihood of poor shopkeepers.
韩国总统李明博称之为富家千金威胁贫穷店主生计的一个"爱好"产业。
Lee Ju-young, a member of the national assembly, likens it to Park Ji-sung (Manchester United's Korean midfielder) lording it over amateurs in a backstreet game of football.
国会议员李举勇将这比做朴智星（效力于曼联的韩国中场球员）在一场后街足球比赛里对所有的业余球员称王称霸。
A restaurateur in Seoul puts it more plaintively: "These families already control everything else in Korea. Why can't they leave something for the rest of us?"
首尔一家餐馆老板的说法则更悲哀："这些家族已掌控了韩国的一切，他们为什么就不能给别人留点余地呢？"
The chaebol families have decided that this is not a battle worth picking.
这些财阀家族已认识到这场仗不值得打。
Scions of the Samsung, LG and Hyundai dynasties are all hanging up their aprons.
三星、LG、现代这几个家族企业的富家千金们都准备退出糕点业了。
Artisee, a chain of swanky pastry shops run by Lee Boo-jin, whose dad is the chairman of Samsung, is to close. So is the Hyundai-affiliated Ozen.
由三星董事长的女儿李宝金经营的高级糕点连锁店Artisee即将停业，现代集团的Ozen也同样如此。
Whether this will help small bakers much is open to question.
但仍不清楚这样是否会对小糕点店大有帮助。
Artisee has only 27 shops; Ozen a mere two. Both are cupcakes in comparison to SPC Group, which operates more than 3,000 Paris Baguette shops in Korea.
Artisee只有27家分店，Ozen则只有2家；但与SPC集团相比，这不过是小巫见大巫。SPC集团在韩国拥有超过3000家巴黎贝甜糕点店，
Buns have always been SPC's bread and butter—and its boss is not an heiress.
小圆面包一直是SPC的主要产品，而且其老板也不是富家千金。
Some say all this pie-throwing distracts attention from the real problems that overmighty chaebol cause. Entrepreneurs complain that if they have a good idea, the chaebol show up with their chequebooks and poach their staff.
有人说，这种胡乱摊派责任的做法分散了人们的注意力，令人们忽视了这些势力强大的财阀引发的真正问题。
Small firms that supply chaebol complain that they are ruthlessly squeezed, though few dare say so publicly.
企业家们抱怨说，如果他们想出了一个好点子，财阀就会现身用重金挖走他们的员工。财阀的小型供应商则抱怨它们遭到财阀无情的压榨，但没哪家敢公开这样说。
Consumers also suffer.
消费者的利益也受到了损害。
Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) detected over 3,500 cases of price-fixing in 2010, but only 66 led to fines. The average penalty amounted to just 2.3% of unfairly earned revenue.
韩国公平交易委员会（FTC）在2010年查明了超过3500宗哄抬价格案，但只有66宗最终是以财阀被罚款告终；平均罚款数仅占财阀以不公平手段赚取的利润的2.3%。
Samsung and LG were fined in January for fixing the prices of notebook PCs and flat-screen televisions between June 2008 and September 2009.
1月，三星和LG因在2008年6月至2009年9月哄抬笔记本电脑和平板电视的价格而被罚款。
Samsung was ordered to pay a fine of 25.8 billion won ($23m); LG, 18.8 billion won. LG's fine is to be waived, in return for co-operation with the FTC.
三星被勒令支付两百五十八亿韩元（两千三百万美元）的罚款；LG则要支付一百八十八亿韩元。LG因配合FTC的调查而得以被免除罚款。
This is the third time the two firms have been caught price-fixing in the past two years.
这是这两家公司在过去两年内第三次被发现进行价格哄抬。
Politicians follow the same old recipes when dealing with the chaebol. They lean on banks to lend cash to small firms. And they lean on the chaebol to stay out of a few minor businesses, such as baking or tofu-making.
政客们在对付财阀时用的仍是老一套：向银行施压，让其贷款给小公司；向财阀施压，不让其插足一些小行业，如糕点或豆腐制作。
However you sugarcoat it, this is not serious reform.
但无论如何粉饰，这些都不是真正意义上的改革。
