时代周刊:美国疫后自由市场已逝,接下来该走哪条路?(1)

The free market is dead. What comes next?

自由市场已逝，接下来呢？

By Chris Hughes

作者：克里斯·休斯

When the covid-19 pandemic struck, world markets came to a standstill.

新冠大流行爆发后，全球市场陷入停滞。

Governments around the world froze as much in-person economic activity as possible and opened their wallets to spend unprecedented¹ sums of money to replace lost income.

世界各国政府都在竭尽全力冻结其经济活动，并打开国库，花大把大把的钱来弥补收入损失。

In the U.S., Republicans and Democrats² agreed to invest record sums, nearly 20% of GDP.

在美国，共和党和民主党都同意投入前所未有的超额巨款(接近GDP的20%)。

For the second time in 12 years, free markets had broken down, and government stepped up.

这是自由市场12年来第二次崩溃，政府也加强了干预。

If the message wasn't clear before, it's now become impossible to miss: Government steps in when the going gets rough, ensuring that wealthy risk takers will be bailed³ out in the worst of times.

如果说之前的信息还不明朗，那么现在已经不可能错过了：当形势艰难时政府就该介入了，以此来确保大的风险承担者能够在最糟糕的时候获得帮助，从而摆脱困境。

Markets don't exist before the state does, and the state doesn't intervene in their natural work. But the state makes markets possible.

市场不会先于政府而存在，政府也不应干预市场的自然运作，但国家能让市场成为可能。

We are witnessing the most profound realignment in American political economy in nearly 40 years.

我们正目睹美国政治经济近40年来最深刻的重组。

President Ronald Reagan summed up the conventional wisdom that reigned⁴ from the mid-1970s onward⁵ in the U.S.: "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem."

罗纳德·里根总统总结了20世纪70年代中期以来统治美国的传统观念：“政府解决不了我们的问题，政府本身就是问题。”

Economists⁶, policymakers and everyday Americans alike generally accepted that markets, unfettered and free, are the best way to create economic growth.

经济学家、政策制定者和普通美国人都普遍认为，不受约束的自由的市场是创造经济增长的最佳途径。

That ideology⁷ began to crack after the 2008–2009 Great Recession, and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic it has collapsed⁸.

这种意识形态在2008-2009年的大衰退之后开始瓦解，在新冠大流行之后已经崩溃。

The rise of ethno-nationalism on the right and democratic socialism on the left testifies to the growing disillusionment with the conventional wisdom on how government and economics are supposed to work.

右翼的种族民族主义和左翼的民主社会主义的兴起，证明人们对政府和经济应该如何运作的传统观念日益幻灭。

Cross-partisan supermajorities of Americans want some of the biggest companies in America broken up, significantly higher minimum wages and a wealth tax on billionaires, and believe significantly more public investment is required to create economic growth.

跨党派的绝大多数美国人希望拆分美国一些最大的公司，大幅提高最低工资，对亿万富翁征收财富税，并认为需要大幅增加公共投资来创造经济增长。

We have had regulations, public investment and macroeconomic management to varying degrees throughout American history.

纵观美国历史，我们经历过不同程度的监管、公共投资和宏观经济管理。

What makes this moment different is people across parties, classes and educational backgrounds are using a new framework to think about how we create prosperity.

而此时的不同之处在于，不同党派、不同阶层、不同教育背景的人们正在用一种新的框架来思考“我们该如何创造繁荣”。

1 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

2 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 bailed   

保释，帮助脱离困境( bail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Fortunately the pilot bailed out before the plane crashed. 飞机坠毁之前，驾驶员幸运地跳伞了。
• Some water had been shipped and the cook bailed it out. 船里进了些水，厨师把水舀了出去。

4 reigned   

vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式）

参考例句：

• Silence reigned in the hall. 全场肃静。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Night was deep and dead silence reigned everywhere. 夜深人静，一片死寂。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 onward   

adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先

参考例句：

• The Yellow River surges onward like ten thousand horses galloping.黄河以万马奔腾之势滚滚向前。
• He followed in the steps of forerunners and marched onward.他跟随着先辈的足迹前进。

6 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

8 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。