評論
打印
Good afternoon, everybody. On Friday, we learned that the United States received a downgrade by one of the credit rating agencies — not so much because they doubt our ability to pay our debt if we make good decisions, but because after witnessing a month of wrangling over raising the debt ceiling, they doubted our political system’s ability to act. The markets, on the other hand, continue to believe our credit status is AAA. In fact, Warren Buffett, who knows a thing or two about good investments, said, “If there were a quadruple-A rating, I’d give the United States that.” I, and most of the world’s investors, agree.
諸位下午好。上星期五，我們獲悉某信用評級機構下調了美國的等級——并非主要因為他們懷疑我們在作出良好決策的情況下償付債務的能力，而是因為看到有關提高債務上限問題的爭論持續(xù)了一個月，他們懷疑我們的政治制度付諸行動的能力。另一方面，市場繼續(xù)相信我們的信用等級為AAA。事實上，在何謂好的投資問題上頗有見地的沃倫∙巴菲特說：“如果有4A這一等級的話，我會將美國評為4A。”我，以及全世界大多數(shù)投資者都同意。
That doesn’t mean we don’t have a problem. The fact is, we didn’t need a rating agency to tell us that we need a balanced, long-term approach to deficit reduction. That was true last week. That was true last year. That was true the day I took office. And we didn’t need a rating agency to tell us that the gridlock in Washington over the last several months has not been constructive, to say the least. We knew from the outset that a prolonged debate over the debt ceiling — a debate where the threat of default was used as a bargaining chip — could do enormous damage to our economy and the world’s. That threat, coming after a string of economic disruptions in Europe, Japan and the Middle East, has now roiled the markets and dampened consumer confidence and slowed the pace of recovery.
這并不是說我們沒有問題。事實是，我們并不需要評級機構告訴我們，降低赤字必須采取平衡、長期的做法。上個星期是這樣，去年是這樣，在我就職的時候就是這樣。我們并不需要評級機構告訴我們，華盛頓過去幾個月的僵持局面至少談不上具有建設性。我們從一開始就知道圍繞債務上限問題的長時間爭論——以債務違約相威脅作為籌碼——可能對美國經濟和世界經濟帶來巨大的破壞。這種威脅緊隨歐洲、日本和中東一系列經濟混亂之后，現(xiàn)在已經造成市場的不安，降低了消費者的信心，減緩了經濟復蘇的步伐。
So all of this is a legitimate source of concern. But here’s the good news: Our problems are imminently [eminently] solvable. And we know what we have to do to solve them. With respect to debt, our problem is not confidence in our credit — the markets continue to reaffirm our credit as among the world’s safest. Our challenge is the need to tackle our deficits over the long term.
因此，這些情況都是引發(fā)憂慮的合理根源。但有一條好消息：很明顯，我們面臨的各種問題完全是可以解決的。我們知道，為了解決這些問題，我們必須做些什么。在債務問題上，我們面臨的問題并非對我們信用的信心——市場繼續(xù)確認我們的信用屬全世界最安全之列。我們面臨的挑戰(zhàn)是需要長期解決我們的赤字問題。
Last week, we reached an agreement that will make historic cuts to defense and domestic spending. But there’s not much further we can cut in either of those categories. What we need to do now is combine those spending cuts with two additional steps: tax reform that will ask those who can afford it to pay their fair share and modest adjustments to health care programs like Medicare.
上星期，我們達成了一項協(xié)議，對我們的防務和國內開支實施歷史性的削減。但這兩個方面已經沒有多少可削減的余地了。我們現(xiàn)在需要做的是，把這些方面的開支削減與另外兩個步驟相結合：稅務改革，要求有能力承擔稅負的人公平地分擔自己的一份責任；以及對聯(lián)邦醫(yī)療照顧計劃之類的醫(yī)保項目作出適度的調整。
Making these reforms doesn’t require any radical steps. What it does require is common sense and compromise. There are plenty of good ideas about how to achieve long-term deficit reduction that doesn’t hamper economic growth right now. Republicans and Democrats on the bipartisan fiscal commission that I set up put forth good proposals. Republicans and Democrats in the Senate’s Gang of Six came up with some good proposals. John Boehner and I came up with some good proposals when we came close to agreeing on a grand bargain.
進行這些改革不要求采取任何激進的步驟。所要求的是常識和妥協(xié)。對于如何在不妨礙目前經濟增長的情況下長期降低赤字的問題，有很多好的設想。我建立的兩黨財政委員會的共和黨人和民主黨人提出了良好的建議。參議院“六人幫”的共和黨人和民主黨人提出了一些良好的建議。在我們接近達成重大協(xié)議時，約翰·博納和我提出了一些良好的建議。
