VOA慢速英语2009年-Economics Report - California Gets a Budge

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

The recession may be easing, but American states are still feeling the pain. Most of the fifty states began their budget year July first. Almost all states require balanced budgets. Already, some predict new deficits².

Congress included state aid in the two-year stimulus³ plan approved in February. But states have had to find other ways to fill budget holes.

The recession has hit especially hard in California, home of the world's eighth largest economy and one out of eight Americans.
　
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signing the state budget on Tuesday

On Tuesday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new budget to solve his state's deficit¹. But spending cuts in the eighty-five billion dollar budget might still not be enough to solve long-term problems.

This was what Governor Schwarzenegger said last week when he proudly announced a deal with lawmakers.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: "The budget that would have no tax increases, a budget that is cutting spending -- we deal with the entire twenty-six billion dollar deficit, around fifteen billion dollars in cuts that we are making."

That was in addition to fifteen billion in cuts passed in February.

But the Republican governor angered some Democrats⁴ when he vetoed several additional spending items before he signed the budget. The money will be held as an emergency reserve. The governor himself compared the budget to the old Western movie "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."

Education faces the biggest reductions. Prisons and health care also face big cuts.

California's finances have become so bad, this month the state began to buy goods and services with promises to pay later. Now, California has a budget. The state can seek loans to pay its bills until more tax money comes in later this year.

But California also has the lowest credit rating of any state. All of the rating agencies still rate California as worthy⁵ of investment. However, downgrades have increased its borrowing costs.

Some people blame Californians themselves for the current troubles of the Golden State. There is debate over "budget by ballot⁶" -- putting tax questions to popular votes. Voters in the last few years, and most recently in May, have rejected several ballot measures that would have raised taxes.

California may rewrite its tax system. The state depends heavily on income tax. But those revenues fall sharply in bad economic times.

Critics say even with the budget agreement, California is still in trouble. They say some of the cost cuts are simply accounting⁷ tricks that cannot be repeated next year.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

1 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

2 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

3 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

4 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》

5 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

6 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

7 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。