U.S. President George Bush says he is concerned about rising gasoline prices and the effects of higher energy costs on an already slowing economy. Mr. Bush made the comments in New Orleans, where he has been meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
美国总统布什表示，他对汽油价格的上涨和能源成本的增加对正在放缓的经济产生的影响感到关注。布什是在新奥尔良会见墨西哥总统卡尔德龙和加拿大总理哈珀时发表这番评论的。
President Bush says the U.S. economy is not in recession, but there is no doubt it is slowing down with higher food and health care costs depressing retail sales and a growing number of Americans struggling to make their house payments.
布什总统说，美国经济并没有衰退，只是由于食品价格的上涨和医疗费用的增加抑制了零售的增长以及越来越多的房主在偿还房贷方面遇到了困难，美国经济因此而放慢了增长的速度。
Record-high oil and gasoline prices are only making things worse. Speaking to reporters at the close of a summit with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, President Bush again called on Congress to approve a controversial plan that would allow drilling for oil in an Alaskan wildlife refuge.
原油价格和汽油价格都达到创记录的高度，使得情况变得更为糟糕。布什总统在北美领导人峰会上会见墨西哥和加拿大的领导人之后对记者发表了讲话。他再次呼吁国会批准有关在阿拉斯加野生动物保护区开发石油的议案。这个议案一直存在争议。
"No question rising gasoline prices are like a tax on our working people," he said. "What is happening is that we have had an energy policy that neglected hydrocarbons in the United States for a long period of time, and now we are paying the price."
布什说：“毫无疑问，汽油价格上涨等于是给我们的工人加税。我们面临的问题是，我们的能源政策在很长的一个时期忽视了美国境内的碳氢化合物，现在我们要为此付出代价。”
The president's comments came as the price of crude oil reached a new record above $119 a barrel and the U.S. dollar hit a record low against the euro. The U.S. housing market also continues to drag down the economy. Home sales and prices fell again last month with banks repossessing more and more homes as owners default on their mortgages.
布什讲话的时候，原油价格已经突破了新的记录，每桶原油的价格超过119美元；美元对欧元的汇率也创下了新的最低记录；美国房地产市场还在继续拖累经济，房屋销售和房屋价格在3月份继续下滑，房主在偿还抵押贷款方面违约，越来越多的房屋抵押赎回权被银行收走。
Mexican President Calderon said the U.S. slowdown is being felt beyond its borders.
墨西哥总统卡尔德龙说，美国经济放缓的影响已经超出了美国的边界。
"I think that the steps taken so far by the fiscal tax monetary authorities in the United States and the Bush administration and in general have been appropriate. They have been the right measures, and we hope that they will very soon demonstrate effects so that we have a quick recovery among all our economies."
他说：“我认为，到目前为止，美国财政、税收和货币当局以及布什政府所采取的措施，总体上看，是恰当的，这些措施是正确的。我们希望这些措施的效果很快得到展现，从而使各有关经济体都能够出现迅速的反弹。”
President Bush and opposition Democrats in Congress agreed on a temporary economic stimulus package of business incentives and tax rebates earlier this year. Mr. Bush said tax rebate checks should reach more than 130 million households next month, and that should begin to help the economy by the start of the third economic quarter in July.
布什总统和国会中的民主党人在今年早些时候就制定临时经济刺激方案达成了共识，给企业提供刺激，给家庭提供退税。布什说，退税支票应当在下个月送到1亿3千多万个美国家庭，在7月份第三季度开始的时候给经济提供帮助。
He also called on Congress to make his record tax cuts permanent and criticized Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for saying they would repeal some of those cuts for wealthier Americans.
布什还要求国会把他提出的前所未有的减税计划永久化。布什批评民主党总统参选人希拉里.克林顿和巴拉克.奥巴马。这两个总统参选人表示他们要取消美国富人所享有的退税。
"You got people out there campaigning, 'Well, we are just going to tax the rich.' You can't raise enough money to meet their spending appetites by taxing the so-called rich," he said. "Every one of those so-called tax-the-rich schemes ends up taxing the middle class families. And in a time of economic uncertainty, we need tax certainty. At a time of rising gasoline prices, we need to be sending a message to all Americans: We are not going to raise your taxes."
布什说：“民主党人在竞选活动中大肆鼓吹说，‘我们将只征富人的税。’可是只征所谓富人的税并不能满足他们的支出需要。他们提出的每一个对富人的征税计划最后都变成了对中产家庭征税。在经济不确定的时候，我们的税收需要稳定。在汽油价格不断上涨的时候，我们有必要给所有美国人发出一个信息，这就是我们不会增加大家的税务负担。”
This was the last North American leaders' summit for President Bush, who will be leaving office before next year's meeting in Mexico.
这是布什总统参加的最后一次北美领导人峰会。下届峰会将在墨西哥举行。不过，布什总统在下次峰会之前就已经卸任了。 |