正文阅读
The Democrats’ social-spending package cannot repair the American Dream
民主党的社会支出一揽子计划无法修复美国梦
In the 1940s Joseph Biden senior fell from early wealth to near-destitution. He moved his young family in with his in-laws as he scrabbled for work in Scranton, Pennsylvania, before re-establishing middle-class ease as a used-car salesman in Delaware. For all the weight that his son, President Joe Biden, places on the wellbeing of the middle class he also cares deeply about the opportunity to join it, or rejoin it, and to rise through its ranks.
20世纪40年代，老约瑟夫·拜登从早期的富裕沦落到几近贫困。他在宾夕法尼亚州的斯克兰顿找工作时，把年轻的一家人搬到了姻亲那里。后来，他在特拉华州当了一名二手车销售员，重新建立了中产阶级的安逸生活。尽管他的儿子，美国总统乔·拜登把重心放在中产阶级的福祉上，但他也非常关心加入或重新加入中产阶级的机会，以及在中产阶级中上升的机会。
The president’s personal story chimes with something his country sorely needs: increased social mobility. Addressing the essence of his “Build Back Better” series of bills, originally pitched as a $4trn package over ten years but now being haggled over in Congress at half that level of spending, Mr Biden has said it lies in providing people “a fair chance to build a decent, middle-class life to succeed and thrive, instead of just hanging on by their fingernails.”
总统的个人故事与美国迫切需要的东西相吻合：社会流动性的增强。拜登在谈到他的“重建更好未来”系列法案的实质时表示，它在于为人们“提供一个公平的机会，让他们过上体面的中产阶级生活以获得成功和繁荣，而不是苟延残喘。”这一系列法案最初的目标是为期10年的4万亿美元一揽子计划，但现在国会正在讨价还价，将这一支出水平减半。
If his administration has a signal achievement to date, it is the expanded child tax credits in the American Rescue Plan (ARP), the stimulus package which was passed in March. They appear to have reduced child poverty by more than 25% since they went into effect in July. Data show that to be inarguable. America, the avowed land of opportunity, now appears a harder place in which to make it than Canada or western Europe, and this is a fundamental flaw in its economy and society.
如果说他的政府到目前为止有什么显著的成就，那就是3月份通过的刺激方案，美国救援计划(ARP)中扩大的儿童税收抵免。自7月生效以来，这些政策似乎已经将儿童贫困程度降低了25%以上。数据毋庸置疑。美国，这片宣称充满机遇的土地，现在似乎比加拿大或西欧更难发展，这是其经济和社会的一个根本缺陷。
