Tim Geithner, the ex-US Treasury secretary, has been elevated to the highest rank of public speakers alongside former world leaders Bill Clinton and Tony Blair after receiving about $400,000 for three recent speaking engagements.

美国前财长蒂姆•盖特纳(Tim Geithner)已加入前世界级领袖比尔•克林顿(Bill Clinton)和托尼•布莱尔(Tony Blair)，跻身身价最高的公众演说家行列。盖特纳最近发表了三场演说，总计入账约40万美元。

A speech at a Deutsche Bank conference last month netted him about $200,000, according to people familiar with the situation, underscoring the lucrative fees former public officials can receive. Mr Clinton and Mr Blair have both earned millions for speaking at private functions since leaving their relatively low paid jobs in office.

知情人士称，盖特纳上月在德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)年会上发表演说，净赚约20万美元。这一事实凸显出前政府官员获取演说费的高昂。克林顿和布莱尔担任公职期间薪酬都相对较低，自卸任以来，他们通过在民间活动上发表演说已赚取了数百万美元。

Mr Geithner started offering his take on topics including Federal Reserve policy and the state of the world on the public stage three months after leaving the Obama administration in January.

今年1月，盖特纳离开奥巴马政府。3个月之后，他开始在公共讲台上，就美联储(Fed)政策和世界时局等议题发表自己的见解。

He spoke alongside Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s ex-president, and Mario Monti, Italy’s former prime minister, at Deutsche Bank’s annual conference at The Grove, an exclusive UK resort, in June. At the event Mr Geithner gave a speech before taking questions from the bank’s chief economist Peter Hooper and the audience. Mr Hooper has invited Mr Geithner to participate in a “few client events this year”, the bank said.

今年6月在英国高档度假胜地格罗夫(The Grove)举办的德银年会上，盖特纳与法国前总统尼古拉•萨科齐(Nicolas Sarkozy)以及意大利前总理马里奥•蒙蒂(Mario Monti)相继发表了演说。在那次活动中，盖特纳在发表演说后，还接受了德银首席经济学家彼得•胡珀(Peter Hooper)以及在场听众的提问。德银表示，胡珀已邀请盖特纳参加“今年的数个客户活动”。

Mr Geithner was also the main attraction at Blackstone’s annual meeting in Orlando in April, and the following month appeared at the New York annual meeting for Warburg Pincus. He was paid no more than $100,000 by each of the private equity groups, according to people familiar with the matter.

今年4月，黑石集团(Blackstone)在奥兰多召开年会时，盖特纳也是会上的一个主要亮点。5月份，他又出席了美国华平投资集团(Warburg Pincus)的纽约年会。知情人士称，这两家私人股本集团为此各自付给他最多10万美元的报酬。

A spokesman for Mr Geithner declined to comment.

盖特纳的发言人拒绝置评。

Private equity groups compete with each other to host the most glitzy affairs for their investors and solicit the biggest names to draw them in. Last September, Carlyle’s co-founder David Rubenstein led a question-and-answer session with Mr Clinton, who charges as much as $200,000, at its annual event.

私人股本集团竞相为其投资者举办最高规格活动，并邀请名声显赫的人物参与这些活动。去年9月，凯雷(Carlyle)联合创始人大卫•鲁宾斯坦(David Rubenstein)在集团的年度活动中主持了一场与克林顿的问答讨论。克林顿为此收费多达20万美元。

Former politicians and government officials have long sought to compensate for the relatively low wages they received in public service with speaking engagements. However, attending an event immediately after leaving office strikes many former colleagues as unseemly.

由于担任公职期间薪酬相对较低，一直以来政界人士和政府官员在卸任后都会利用演说机会补充自己的收入。但如果在卸任后马上就参加此类活动，会令许多前同事感到不太舒服。

Within a week of stepping down as Federal Reserve chairman, for example, Alan Greenspan was paid around $250,000 to speak at a dinner for hedge fund clients of the now-defunct Lehman Brothers.

比如，艾伦•格林斯潘(Alan Greenspan)卸任美联储主席还不到一周，就参加了雷曼兄弟（Lehman Brothers，现已破产）举行的一次对冲基金客户宴会，并发表了演说，赚了25万美元。

The American custom is not always emulated overseas. When Masaaki Shirakawa stepped down as governor of the Bank of Japan in March, for example, he said he would not speak out on monetary policies or about his experience as central bank governor for at least six months.

美国前政要的这种做法未必总是受到外国同行的效仿。例如，白川方明(Masaaki Shirakawa)今年3月在卸任日本央行(BoJ)行长时就表示，至少在6个月内，他不会就货币政策或担任央行行长期间的体验发表任何演说。