经济学人下载:美国债务真丢人

America's debt
美国债务

Shame on them
真丢人！

The Republicans are playing a cynical political game with hugely high economic stakes
共和党人见利忘义，不顾巨大经济风险，玩弄政治游戏

Jul 7th 2011 | from The Economist print edition

IN THREE weeks, if there is no political deal, the American government will go into default. Not, one must pray, on its sovereign debt. But the country will have to stop paying someone: perhaps pensioners, or government suppliers, or soldiers. That would be damaging enough at a time of economic fragility. And the longer such a default went on, the greater the risk of provoking a genuine bond crisis would become.

倘若在三个月内没有政治交易，美国政府将出现违约（无力偿还债务）。但希望违约的不是主权债券。无论如何，美国将不得不停止向一些人支付：也许是退休人员，或是政府供应商们，抑或军人们。在经济脆弱不堪的时候，那将具有足够的破坏性。并且，像这样的的违约状态持续越久，引发实际债务危机的风险越大。

There is no good economic reason why this should be happening. America’s net indebtedness is a perfectly affordable 65% of GDP, and throughout the past three years of recession and tepid recovery investors have been more than happy to go on lending to the federal government. The current problems, rather, are political. Under America’s elaborate separation of powers, Congress must authorise any extension of the debt ceiling, which now stands at $14.3 trillion. Back in May the government bumped up against that limit, but various accounting dodges have been used to keep funds flowing. It is now reckoned that these wheezes will be exhausted by August 2nd.

没有一个合理的经济理由可以来解释为什么会这样。美国的净负债额占国内生总值的65%, 是完全可以负担得起的，加之过去三年来的衰退和缓慢的恢复，投资者们已十分乐意继续把钱借给联邦政府。当前的问题，更确切地说，应该是政治问题。在美国煞费苦心的权力分割之下，任何债务上限的提高必须经过国会批准（现在的债务限额处于14.3万亿美元的高位)。5月份美国政府债务剧增，颇有冲破上限之势。但各种账目伎俩使资金得以自由流转。现在估计到8月2日，黔驴将要技穷。