经济学人下载:违约杯具已避,跛脚政治风险犹存

The debt-ceiling deal
债务上限协议达成

No thanks to anyone
无需感谢任何人

America has avoided default, but political dysfunction is threatening its chances of economic recovery
美国违约杯具已避 “跛脚”政治风险犹存

Aug 6th 2011 | WANSHINGTON,DC | from The Economist edition

THE deficit-reduction deal that finally raised America’s debt ceiling and staved off the threat of default seemed to make no one happy. “A sugar-coated Satan sandwich,” one Democratic congressman called it. Republican candidates for president lined up to denounce it.

减赤协议还是达成了，该协议最终决定提高美国的债务上限，以避开违约的风险。但貌似没人会笑得出来。“这不过是块裹了糖衣的撒旦三明治，”一位民主党众议员这样形容它。共和党的下届总统候选人也一致对协议进行了斥责。

But even less popular than the deal itself was the process that led up to it: months of partisan wrangling, broken deals and brinkmanship, with the threat of default hanging over an economy struggling to grow. “Our economy didn’t need Washington to come along with a manufactured crisis to make things worse,” Barack Obama noted as he signed the deal into law on August 2nd—the day the Treasury had warned that it would run out of cash to meet its obligations.

但是比这个协议本身还让人不满的是达成这个协议的过程：数月的党派纷争，各种协议和政策底线被随意践踏，还有高悬于脆弱经济头顶的违约威胁。“我们的经济不需要华盛顿这帮人凑过来给它添乱！”巴拉克．奥巴马在8月2日签署最终协议时这样说。这一天也是财政部之前警告过的履约现金告罄的日子。

The deal, hammered out just days before that deadline, promises $917 billion in spending cuts over the next decade in return for a two-stage increase in the debt ceiling of $900 billion. After that, a 12-member congressional committee, equally composed of Republicans and Democrats, is to find $1.5 trillion in further deficit reductions that Congress must approve by December 23rd, in return for a similar-sized increase in the debt ceiling. If the committee fails to reach agreement or its proposal is rejected, $1.2 trillion in spending cuts will be triggered, drawn equally from domestic spending and defence.

协议最终在大限之前数天敲定。该协议将债务上限提高两级，增加了9000亿美元，但前提是要确保未来十年间削减9170亿美元的开支。这之后，还要有一个由民主党共和党各六人组成的国会委员会，着手在12月23日之前整出一个1.5万亿美元的减赤方案并要获得国会通过。如果该委员会不能达成协议抑或其方案被否决，那么就将不得不从国内开支和国防费用中相应地削减1.2万亿美元。