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美国经济面临又一财政悬崖

The U.S. may have avoided the fiscal¹ cliff, but analysts² say the last minute Congressional agreement at the start of the year to raise taxes on wealthy Americans and avoid massive spending cuts was only a temporary fix. Now, even as President Barack Obama begins his second term, another financial crisis is looming³ - one with potentially severe implications for the world's largest economy.

美国可能避免了上次财政悬崖，但是分析家说，国会今年初达成的向富人增税，避免大幅度裁减开支的协议只能暂时解决问题。现在，奥巴马总统开始了他的第二个任期，又一个财政危机正在悄悄降临，这个危机可能会对美国这个世界上最大的经济体带来严重影响。

The U.S. government has already reached the congressionaly imposed borrowing limit of $16.4 trillion and could run out of money by mid-February.

美国政府债务已经达到了国会设定的16万4千亿美元的债务上限，可能会在2月中出现无以支付账单问题。

New York trader Benedict Willis says the coming debate over raising the debt ceiling could be even more acrimonious⁴.

纽约证交所的交易员本尼迪克特?威利斯说，即将展开的提高债务上限的争论可能会更加激烈。

"Now we'll go from the talk of fiscal cliff, I'm sure we'll start talking about the St. Valentine's Day massacre⁵ because that's really the deadline we'll be looking at as far as the deficit⁶ reduction and the debt ceiling talks are concerned," Willis said.

本尼迪克特?威利斯是纽约证交所的交易员。他说：“现在我们不会再讨论财政悬崖了，要讨论的是情人节大屠杀，因为那天将是我们决定如何减少赤字和解决债务上限问题的最后期限。”

Republican House Speaker John Boehner is demanding major spending cuts in exchange for any agreement to raise the debt limit.

国会众议院议长共和党人贝纳要求大幅度减少开支，以换取任何提高债务上限的协议。

But President Barack Obama calls that - irresponsible.

可是奥巴马总统说，那是不负责任的做法。

"If congressional Republicans refuse to pay America's bills on time, Social Security checks and veteran's benefits will be delayed. We might not be able to pay our troops or honor our contracts with small business owners," Obama said.

他说：“如果国会共和党人届时拒绝提高美国的债务上限，就会推迟发放社保支票和退伍军人福利，我们就可能无法支付我们军人的薪水，无法履行跟小企业签订的合同。”

The government would be unable to pay the interest on its debts -- creating massive turmoil⁷ in world markets.

美国政府如果无法支付债务利息，可能给全球市场带来巨大动乱。

But analysts say the damage is already done.

可是分析家说，影响已经造成了。

"If you're a business and you are about to hire 100 new employees but are not sure what is going to happen with the debt ceiling, you're going to wait until the situation has passed. So as Congress is bickering⁸, it's really kind of like pulling back the reins⁹ on the horse and not letting the horse run," said financial adviser¹⁰ Frank Reilly.

财政顾问弗兰克?赖利通过SKYPE接受美国之音采访时说：“如果你是商人，你可能需要雇佣100个新员工，可是却不知道新的债务上限会带来什么改变，你就会等到局势明朗后再说。所以国会争吵时，就像勒住马的缰绳，不让马跑。”

The last budget battle in 2011 resulted in the first credit downgrade of U.S. debt.

2011年的预算争执导致美国债务信用评级被首次降低。

Although investors¹¹ continued to buy U.S. bonds, Marc Goldwein at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says another downgrade could damage U.S. credibility.

虽然投资者还在继续购买美国债券，可是专家说，美国再次被降级就会损坏信用。马克?戈德文是【支持负责任的联邦预算委员会】的研究员。

"A downgrade from 'Triple A' to 'Double A' by itself doesn't usually have that much of an effect. It's basically saying instead of your bonds being really good, it's very good. That's basically how they qualify it. The danger is - what about the next downgrade, and the next one?," Goldwein said.

他说：“从3A降级到2A本身通常没有很大的影响，因为这基本上是说，你的债券过去是极好，现在是很好。这就是他们的评级条件。危险的是，一降再降怎么办？”

House Speaker John Boehner admits the consequences of not increasing the debt limit are real, but he says - so too are the consequences of allowing the country's spending to go unchecked.

国会众议院议长贝纳承认，不提高债务上限的后果很现实，可是他说，国家开支不受约束的后果也同样现实。