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A Solution to Child Poverty
兒童貧困問題如何解決？
By Jeff Madrick
文/杰夫·馬德里克
Nearly 1 in 5 American children is officially poor.
據官方統計，美國幾乎每5個兒童就有1個是貧困兒童。
That's roughly 15 million kids.
大致相當于全美國有1500萬的貧困兒童。
But the number living with a significant deprivation—
然而，生活在嚴重貧困之下——
insufficient food, seriously overcrowded housing or a lack of access to medical care due to cost—is actually much higher.
食物不足，住房嚴重擁擠，支付不起醫療費用而得不到醫療服務——的兒童遠不止1/5。
According to the latest studies, it's more like 1 in 3.
最近的研究顯示，更準確的比例應該是1/3.
Why do we tolerate this?
我們何以會允許事態惡化到如此地步？
America has long been resistant to adequate poverty policies
長期以來，美國一直頗為抵觸力度充分的扶貧政策，
because of its strong strain of thinking that the poor are responsible for their own situations, no matter their suffering,
因為這個國家強烈地認為，無論窮人的生活多么艱難，他們的處境都是他們自己一手造成的，
but child poverty is too harmful and punishing to ignore.
但讓兒童生活在貧困之下危害太大，也太過苛責，故忽視不得。
I, and a growing number of academics, believe there is a solution:
我，還有越來越多的學者都相信，兒童貧困問題仍有辦法解決：
the government should give monthly cash allowances, without conditions, to every family with kids.
政府應當每月無條件地給每個有孩子的家庭發放補貼金，
(Higher-income families would have much of that money taxed away.)
（高收入家庭應為這筆支出繳納更高的稅收。）
Today the official poverty line for a family of four in the U.S. is about $26,200,
當前，美國四口之家的官方貧困線為（年收入）26200美元左右，
but a 2013 Gallup survey found that people think a family of four must earn $58,000 on average just to get by.
但2013年蓋洛普(Gallup)的一項調查發現，民眾的看法是，一個四口之家平均收入必須達到58000美元才能勉強度日。
My own ideal definition of a useful poverty measure would be this:
我自己對有效貧困標準的理想定義是：
the level below which we know that short- and long-term damage is being done to children.
低于那個標準，我們的孩子就會受到傷害，無論是短期傷害還是長期傷害。
A mountain of evidence now shows that poverty can lead to cognitive and emotional damage in children.
有大量證據表明，貧困有損兒童的認知和情感能力。
Despite policies that have expanded access to insurance,
盡管政府部門已經出臺有關政策，普及了貧困兒童獲得醫療保險的機會，
poor kids are still less healthy than the rest of the young population.
他們的健康狀況仍比不上同齡人的健康狀況。
They also drop out of school at higher rates,
相比富裕的同齡人，貧困兒童的輟學率更高，
earn less money over time and are incarcerated far more often than their better-off peers.
久而久之他們賺的錢也更少，被監禁的頻率更是遠遠高于前者。
That should be enough for us to recognize the moral tragedy that is child poverty,
這一點已經足以讓我們意識到兒童貧困實則是一出道德悲劇，
but we should note the broad effect too:
但我們仍應留心兒童貧困給整個社會造成的影響：
reputable analyses show that the nation's GDP is up to $1 trillion lower because of child poverty.
有可靠的分析顯示，在美國，兒童貧困造成的GDP損失已經高達1萬億美元。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
