II. Multiple Factors Driving U.S. Economic Polarization
二、多重因素助推美國貧富分化加劇
The polarization between the rich and the poor in the United States is caused by multiple factors, including monopoly, electoral politics, government policies, weakened labor unions, and racial discrimination.
美國的貧富分化由多種因素造成,包括資本壟斷、選舉政治、政府政策、工會力量被削弱、種族歧視等。
Polarization and unequal distribution of wealth are a chronic malaise and an inevitable result of capitalism, giving rise to both wealth accumulation and poverty in the United States. Since the 1970s, conservatism and liberalism have thrived in the country, and marketization and internationalization have been prioritized over equality. The shift in the U.S. economic system toward promoting privatization, repealing progressive taxation, weakening labor unions and loosening financial regulation has made addressing wealth inequality even more hopeless.
兩極分化、財富分配不公是資本主義的常態和必然趨勢,導致美國財富積累和貧困同時產生。20世紀70年代以來,美國保守主義和自由主義思潮興起,市場化、國際化等理念取代平等價值觀,美國經濟制度轉向推崇私有化、放棄強征累進稅、削弱工會、放松金融管制,這些政策選擇使貧富分化問題更加無望解決。
The 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement epitomized the American people's grievances about unfair capital accumulation and the disparity of wealth. The core message of the movement was to oppose embezzlement and corruption in the financial sector, economic inequality and social injustice. Slogans such as "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" reflected people's profound frustration with the ever-widening wealth gap in the United States. The movement was portrayed by Wall Street as a "mob", and dispersed violently by the U.S. government. But 12 years on, the economic disparity is only getting worse.
2011年的“占領華爾街”運動集中體現了美國民眾對資本斂財和貧富懸殊的不滿。這次運動的核心訴求是反對金融領域的貪污和腐敗、經濟不平等和社會不公。“窮者越窮,富者越富”等標語反映了民眾對美國貧富分化持續惡化極為失望。這次運動被華爾街描述為烏合之眾搗亂抗議,美國政府最終選擇暴力清場。12年后,美國的貧富分化狀況較當時更加嚴重。
Partisan conflict and government alternation have led to flip-flops in U.S. policies. Tax policy plays an important role in narrowing the wealth gap. But the rivalry between Democrats and Republicans on taxation has resulted in a failure to effectively tax the rich who have tried every possible means to "legally" avoid taxes. According to a report by the news outlet ProPublica, the true tax rate of the richest Americans is only 3.4 percent, far lower than that of ordinary wage earners.
兩黨黨爭和政黨輪替導致政策反復“翻燒餅”。稅收政策對縮小貧富差距有重要影響。民主共和兩黨在稅收問題上反復博弈,導致富裕階層想盡各種辦法“合法”避稅,無法對其有效征稅。新聞機構“為了人民”網站發布報告指出,美國頂級富豪納稅率僅3.4%,遠低于普通上班族。
The weakening of trade unions has aggravated such polarization. In the 1950s, about a third of American workers belonged to unions, and the union membership rate was 23.8 percent in 1978. But the number fell to 11.3 percent in 2011 and further to 10.3 percent in 2021. Since Black workers are more likely than workers of other races to be unionized, the decline in unionization has particularly affected them and exacerbated poverty among the Black community.
工會力量薄弱加劇貧富分化。20世紀50年代,約三分之一的美國工人屬于工會,1978年工會會員率仍有23.8%,2011年已降至11.3%,2021年進一步降至10.3%。黑人工人加入工會的比例較其他種族高,工會化程度下降對黑人工人影響尤其嚴重,加劇黑人族裔貧窮。
The wealth gap is closely related to race. Black, Hispanic or Latino households in the United States earn about half the average income of white households, and own only 15 percent to 20 percent of the latter's net wealth. The divide has widened significantly over the past few decades according to Fed statistics. Since 1989, the median wealth of white households has tripled, while the wealth of Black, Hispanic and Latino households has barely increased. According to a Fed survey in 2019, the median white household has a net worth 10 times that of the median Black household, and the 400 richest American billionaires have more total wealth than all 10 million Black households combined.
貧富差距與種族密切相關。美國黑人、西班牙裔或拉丁族裔家庭平均收入約為白人家庭的一半,擁有的凈財富僅為白人家庭的15%至20%。美聯儲數據顯示,這一差距在過去幾十年顯著擴大。1989年以來,白人家庭的財富中值增加了兩倍,而黑人、西裔和拉丁族裔家庭的財富幾乎沒有增加。美聯儲2019年調查顯示,美國中位白人家庭的凈資產是中位黑人家庭的10倍,400位最富有的美國億萬富翁的總財富超過了1000萬美國黑人家庭的總財富。
Racial discrimination is entrenched in the job market. The unemployment rate of Black workers has long been about twice that of whites. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, the unemployment rate in the United States hit a record low of 3.5 percent, but the number was far higher for Black and Hispanic workers. Black professionals are poorly represented in high-paying corporate jobs. In 2020, there were only four Black CEOs among Fortune 500 companies.
就業市場種族歧視嚴重。長期以來,美國黑人失業率約為白人的兩倍。新冠疫情前,美國失業率曾達到3.5%的歷史低點,但黑人和西班牙裔工人的失業率仍遠高于此。美國黑人在企業高薪職位中的代表性很低。2020年,《財富》雜志500強企業的首席執行官中只有四位黑人。