VOA标准英语2013--诺贝尔经济学家指出华盛顿停摆的后果

 

Nobel Economist¹: Washington Dysfunction Carries Heavy Price Tag 诺贝尔经济学家指出华盛顿停摆的后果

WASHINGTON — Many people are breathing a sigh of relief after the U.S. Congress reached a last minute agreement to end the fiscal² stalemate.  But relief carries a large price tag.  The credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s estimates that the 16-day shutdown took $24 billion out of the economy and shaved more than half a percent from fourth quarter GDP growth.  But Yale University professor and Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller says the damage goes beyond dollars and cents.  

Thousands of federal employees are back to work. Investors³ who bet Congress would not allow the U.S. to default - took their profits.  And businesses hurt by the shutdown welcomed back their customers.   

But Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller says harder to quantify is how much the Washington-manufactured crisis has damaged international trust.

“Our reputation is obviously a very important thing," he said. "It’s a little bit upsetting to see it threatened as it is now.”

More worrisome, says Shiller, is the impact of Washington's dysfunction on the middle class. For example its failure to pass a jobs program.

He's proposing steps to narrow the rapidly increasing gap between rich and poor.  Recent studies by the University of California show income for the richest one percent has risen more than 31 percent since 2009 -- while incomes for the other 99 percent grew less than one percent.

"We ought to be able to reach an agreement, let’s define an inequality level that’s much worse than today and let’s say - we’re going to draw the line there, we’re not going to let it get any worse and how do we stop that?  Well it has to be some form of taxation⁴ of the rich," Shiller said.

It's a controversial proposal that would likely face strong oppostion from conservatives in Congress.

Shiller says the same ideological⁵ divide that caused the shutdown will further erode⁶ trust in the U.S. economy -- and potentially hasten the end of the dollar as the world's reserve currency.

That status means the dollar is held in large quantities by foreign governments to facilitate trade and currency exchange.  It makes the dollar more desirable to foreign investors and allows the U.S. to borrow at lower costs.  

“Well, we're in danger of losing the status even if it doesn’t continue," said Shiller. "The euro is becoming a more important currency.  The nations of the world don’t view it as their ultimate objective to be holding dollars.”

Russia and China have proposed replacing the dollar with a so-called "super-sovereign reserve” of various currencies. Experts say those proposals could gain traction⁷ if U.S. lawmakers drag the country back into another fiscal crisis -- three months from now. 

1 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

2 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

3 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

4 taxation   

n.征税，税收，税金

参考例句：

• He made a number of simplifications in the taxation system.他在税制上作了一些简化。
• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。

5 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

6 erode   

v.侵蚀，腐蚀，使...减少、减弱或消失

参考例句：

• Once exposed,soil is quickly eroded by wind and rain.一旦暴露在外，土壤很快就会被风雨侵蚀。
• Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.金融市场的竞争降低了利润。

7 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。