2012 Presidential Debate Between Obama and Romney
奥巴马与罗姆尼舌尖上的“论战”——2012年美国总统大选电视辩论
Debate 1 Huge Federal Deficit
负债累累的美国财政
Debate 2 Public Education: A Better Future for the Next Generation
公共教育造福下一代
Debate 3 Obamacare Meeting Obstacles
举步维艰的奥巴马医疗改革计划
Debate 4 Removing Partisan Gridlock
协调党际僵局
Debate 5 Soaring Gas Prices
飙升的油价
Debate 6 Government for the People: Addressing Unemployment
执政为民:缓解失业势在必行
Debate 7 Benghazi
聚焦班加西
Debate 8 Illegal Immigrants
非法移民何去何从
……
內容試閱:
Part 1
奥巴马与罗姆尼
舌尖上的“论战”
2012 Presidential Debate Between
Obama and Romney
◎ 1 负债累累的美国财政Track01
◎ 2 公共教育造福下一代Track02
◎ 3 举步维艰的奥巴马医疗改革计划Track03
◎ 4 协调党际僵局Track04
◎ 5 飙升的油价Track05
◎ 6 执政为民:缓解失业势在必行Track06
◎ 7 聚焦班加西Track07
◎ 8 非法移民何去何从Track08
◎ 9 赋予女性权力Track09
◎ 10 是否应该扔掉手中的枪Track10
◎ 11 让美国永立世界之巅Track11
◎ 12 撤军阿富汗Track12
◎ 13 一触即发:伊朗与以色列Track13
◎ 14 走吧,阿萨德Track14
◎ 15 军费:国之大计Track15
第一场辩论
负债累累的美国财政
Huge Federal Deficit
背景速览
本篇选自2012 年美国总统大选第一场辩论,问题的焦点是如何削减
财政赤字。根据美国财政部2012 年度的报告,美国2012 财年赤字1.089
万亿美元,较前一年有所缩小,但已连续第四年赤字超出1 万亿美元。美
国的财政年度从10 月1 日开始至次年9 月30 日结束。因财政收入提高、
开支下降,2012 财年赤字额较2011 财年下降了16% 左右。财政部表示,
2012 财年财政赤字占GDP 的比例为7%。巨大的削减赤字是2012 年总
统选举的一个重要内容。辩论中,罗姆尼经常指责奥巴马政府造成巨额财
政赤字。奥巴马与罗姆尼均承诺要大力削减赤字。奥巴马希望结束布什政
府推行的针对富人的减税政策,罗姆尼则寻求通过削减开支来降低赤字。
Lehrer: All right. Let’s talk—we’re
still on the economy. This is,
theoretically now, a second segment
still on the economy, and specifically on
what do about the federal deficit, the
federal debt. And the question—you
each have two minutes on this—and,
Governor Romney you go first because
the president went first on segment one.
And the question is this: What are the
differences between the two of you as
to how you would go about tackling1 the
deficit problem in this country?
Romney: Well, good. I’m glad you raised
that. And it’s a critical issue. I think it’s not just
an economic issue. I think
it’s a moral issue. I think
it’s, frankly, not moral for
my generation to keep
spending massively more
than we take in, knowing
those burdens are going
to be passed on to the
next generation. And they’re going to be
paying the interest and the principle all their
lives. And the amount of debt we’re adding,
at a trillion a year, is simply not moral.
So how do we deal with it? Well,
mathematically there are three ways that
you can cut a deficit. One, of course, is to
raise taxes. Number two is to cut spending.
And number three is to grow the economy
because if more people work in a growing
莱勒:好的。让我们继续
谈谈经济。理论上,我们现在
进入经济论题的第二个部分,
具体来说,就是如何应对财政
赤字以及联邦债务。对于这个
问题,你们每人有两分钟,罗
姆尼州长你先来,因为总统在
第一部分先说的。问题就是:
你们两人在解决美国赤字问题
方面的观点有何不同?
罗姆尼:很好。你提出这
个问题,我很高兴。这一问题
非常重要。我认为,
这不仅仅是一个经
济问题。这是一个
道德问题。坦白讲,
我认为,我们这一
代人赚得少,却花
费巨大,这是不道
德的,因为我们知
道这些债务负担将会落到下一
代人肩上。他们一辈子都要为
此付利息。我们每年增加1 万
亿债务,这是不道德的。
那么我们如何解决呢?数
字上,有三种方法可以削减赤
字。第一, 增加税收。第二,
削减开支。第三,发展经济,
因为如果经济得到发展,就会
有更多的人工作,他们会交税,
economy they’re paying taxes and you can
get the job done that way.
The president would prefer raising
taxes. I understand. The problem with
raising taxes is that it slows down the rate
of growth and you could never quite get
the job done. I want to lower spending
and encourage economic growth at the
same time.
What things would I cut from spending?
Well, first of all, I will eliminate2 all programs
by this test—if they don’t pass it: Is the
program so critical it’s worth borrowing
money from China to pay for it? And if not,
I’ll get rid of it. “Obamacare” is on my list.
I apologize, Mr. President. I use that term
with all respect.
Obama: I like it.
Romney: Good. OK, good. Laughter.
So I’ll get rid of that. I’m sorry, Jim. I’m going
to stop the subsidy to PBS3. I’m going to
stop other things. I like PBS. I love Big Bird4.
I actually like you too. But I’m not going
to keep on spending money on things to
borrow money from China to pay for it.
That’s number one.
Number two, I’ll take programs that
are currently good programs but I think
could be run more efficiently at the state
level and send them to state.
这样你就可以削减赤字。
总统倾向于增税。这我理
解。但是,增税的一个问题就是,
它会放缓经济增长速度,这样
你无法真正削减赤字。而我想
要削减开支,与此同时,鼓励
经济增长。
我如何削减开支呢? 首
先,要衡量该项目是否如此重
要,值得我们向中国借钱来支
付它?如果并非如此,那么我
就会将这些项目淘汰掉。“奥巴
马医疗改革计划”就在淘汰之
列。我很抱歉,总统先生,我
并无冒犯之意。
奥巴马:无妨。
罗姆尼:好的。(笑声)我
要淘汰医疗改革计划。对不起,
吉姆。我要叫停对公共电视网
的补贴。我还要叫停其他项目。
我喜欢公共电视网。我热爱“大
鸟”先生。我也很喜欢你。但是,
我不打算再继续向中国借钱来
支付这些项目。这是第一。
第二,对于现行的好项目,
并且我认为在州的层面运行会
更高效,我将会让各州来接管
项目。
Number three, I’ll make government
more efficient, and to cut back the number
of employees, combine some agencies and
departments. My cutbacks will be done
through attrition, by the way.
This is the approach we have to take
to get America to a balanced budget. The
president said he’d cut the
deficit in half. Unfortunately,
he doubled it. Trillion-dollar
deficits for the last four years.
The president’s put it in place
as much public debt—almost
as much debt held by the
public as all prior presidents
combined.
Lehrer: Mr. President, two minutes.
Obama: When I walked in the Oval
Office, I had more than a trillion dollar
deficit greeting me, and we know where
it came from. Two wars that were paid
for on a credit card. Two tax cuts that
were not paid for, and a whole bunch of
programs that were not paid for. And
then a massive5 economic crisis.
And despite that, what we’ve said is,
yes, we had to take some initial emergency
measures6 to make sure we didn’t slip into a
Great Depression. But what we’ve also said
is, let’s make sure that we are cutting out
those things that are not helping us grow.
第三,我会使政府更高效,
削减雇员人数,合并一些机构
与部门。另外,我要通过雇员
自然流失的方式进行这项缩编。
为使美国收支平衡,我们
必须这样做。总统说他要使赤
字减