Forget China – it's America's own economic system that's broken
忘了中国吧，是美国自己的经济体系坏了
原文(The Gaurdian)： https://tinyurl.com/y4xah4d9
中译(观察者)：https://www.guancha.cn/RobertReich/2019_06_25_506908.shtml
Robert Reich
加州大学伯克利分校公共政策教授
US weakness is inbuilt – the big 500 companies owe loyalty only to
themselves and the public is shut out from prosperity
美国的弱点是内生的 - 大型500强公司只对自己忠诚，而公众则被排除在繁荣之外
Xi Jinping might possibly agree next weekend on further steps to bring down
China’s trade imbalance with the US, giving Donald Trump a face-saving way
of ending his trade war.
But Xi won’t agree to change China’s economic system. Why should he?
习近平下周可能会同意采取更多措施以减少对美贸易顺差，以便让川普能有面子的结束贸
易战。然而习不可能同意对中国的经济体制做出改动。他有什么理由要这样做呢?
The American economic system is focused on maximizing shareholder returns.
And it’s achieving that goal: on Friday, the S&P 500 notched a new all-time
high.
But average Americans have seen no significant gains in their incomes for
four decades, adjusted for inflation.
China’s economic system, by contrast, is focused on maximizing China. And it
’s achieving that goal. Forty years ago China was still backward and
agrarian. Today it’s the world’s second-largest economy, home to the world’
s biggest auto industry and some of the world’s most powerful technology
companies. Over the last four decades, hundreds of millions of Chinese people
have been lifted out of poverty.
The two systems are fundamentally different.
美国的经济体制着眼于如何使股东收益最大化，而且这个目标正在实现：标准普尔500指
数已创新高。然而对于普通的美国民众来说，考虑到通货膨胀的因素，他们的收入已经40
年未见任何增长。相比之下，中国的经济体制却是着眼于如何让国家实现最大程度的发展
。中国的这个目标也正在成为现实。40年前的中国是一个落后的农业国，而如今的中国已
是全球第二大经济体，中国拥有全球最大规模的汽车产业和一些全球最强大的高科技企业
。在过去40年里，数亿中国人摆脱了贫困。美中两国的经济体制从根本上来说是完全不同
的。
At the core of the American system are 500 giant companies headquartered in
the US but making, buying and selling things all over the world. Half of
their employees are non-American, located outside the US. A third of their
shareholders are non-American.
总部在美国的500家大公司处于美国经济体制的核心位置，它们的生产、采购和销售活动
遍及全球，这些跨国公司里一半的雇员不是美国人，三分之一的股东也不是美国人。
These giant corporations have no particular allegiance to America. Their only
allegiance and responsibility is to their shareholders.
They’ll do whatever is necessary to get their share prices as high as
possible – including keeping wages down, fighting unions, reclassifying
employees as independent contractors, outsourcing anywhere around world where
parts are cheapest, shifting their profits around the world wherever taxes
are lowest, and paying their top CEOs ludicrous sums.
这些公司对美国并无特别的忠诚可言，它们只忠于自己的股东，他们只对股东负责。他们
会想尽办法抬高公司的股价，具体手段包括压低工资、打击工会、使用合同工而非正式雇
员、将业务外包到成本最低的国家进行生产、把利润转移到税率最低的国家、付给公司高
管过高的薪水等等。
At the core of China’s economy, by contrast, are state-owned companies that
borrow from state banks at artificially low rates. These state firms balance
the ups and downs of the economy, spending more when private companies are
reluctant to do so.
They’re also engines of economic growth making the capital-intensive
investments China needs to prosper, including investments in leading-edge
technologies.
相比之下，处于中国经济核心位置的是国有企业，它们可以在国有银行获得低息贷款。这
些中国国有企业能够在民营企业不愿投资时拿出更多的钱，从而在经济起伏的情况下发挥
稳定器的作用。此外，中国国有企业还是经济增长的强大引擎，它们能够在包括尖端科技
产业在内的诸多产业上进行资本密集型投资以促进中国的繁荣。
China’s core planners and state-owned companies will do whatever is
necessary both to improve the wellbeing of the Chinese people and become the
world’s largest and most powerful economy.
Since 1978, the Chinese economy has grown by an average of more than 9% per
year. Growth has slowed recently, and American tariffs could bring it down to
6% or 7%, but that’s still faster than almost any other economy in the
world, including the US.
中国的核心战略规划者和国有企业为了增进中国民众福祉、为了使自己的国家成为全球最
大、最强经济体可以付出任何代价。自1978年以来，中国经济年均增长率超过9%。近年来
，中国经济增长已有所放缓，而且美国加征关税措施还可能进一步将其增长数字拉低到6%
或7%，然而中国经济增速仍将远远高于包括美国在内的其他经济体。
The American system relies on taxes, subsidies and regulations to coax
corporations to act in the interest of the American public. But these levers
have proven weak relative to the overriding corporate goal of maximizing
shareholder returns.
美国体制依靠税收、补贴和监管等措施引导那些美国跨国公司向美国社会的公共利益看齐
。然而在“使股东收益最大化”这个压倒一切的公司目标之下，上述手段是非常软弱无力
的。
Last week, for example, Walmart, American’s largest employer, announced it
would lay off 570 employees despite taking home more than $2bn courtesy of
Trump and the Republican corporate tax cuts. Last year, the company closed
dozens of Sam’s Club stores, leaving thousands of Americans out of work.
At the same time, Walmart has plowed more than $20bn into buying back shares
of its own stock, which boosts the pay of Walmart executives and enriches
wealthy investors but does nothing for the economy.
以美国最大雇主沃尔玛为例，虽然受惠于川普政府和共和党该公司已经享受了20亿美元的
减税待遇，但上周该公司还是宣布将裁员570人。去年，沃尔玛关闭了数十家山姆会员店
，导致数千名美国雇员失去了工作。与此同时，沃尔玛拿出200亿美元回购自己的股票，
该公司高管薪水因此大涨，富裕的股东们也受益颇丰，然而这对美国经济没有任何正面影
响。
It should be noted that Walmart is a global company, not adverse to bribing
foreign officials to get its way. On Thursday it agreed to pay $282m to
settle federal allegations of overseas corruption, including channeling more
than $500,000 to an intermediary in Brazil known as a “sorceress” for her
ability to make construction permit problems disappear.
值得注意的是，沃尔玛是一家全球性公司，不会反对去贿赂外国官员以达目的。周四，它
同意支付2.82亿美元来解决联邦海外腐败指控，其中包括向巴西一名被称为“女巫”的中
间人提供超过50万美元，因为她有能力使建筑许可证问题消失。
Across the American economy, the Trump tax cut did squat for jobs and wages
but did nicely for corporate executives and big investors. Instead of
reinvesting the savings into their businesses, the International Monetary
Fund reports that companies used it to buy back stock.
川普政府的减税措施并没有促进企业提供更多工作岗位或提高雇员工资水平，但那些减免
的税收却让公司高管和大股东大大受益。根据国际货币基金组织的一份报告，美国公司高
管并没有把因减税获得的资金投入公司的运营，他们其实把钱花在了回购股票上。
But wait. America is a democracy and China is a dictatorship, right?
True, but most Americans have little or no influence on public policy –
which is why the Trump tax cut did so little for them.
可是请等一等。人们不是说美国是民主国家而中国是专制国家吗？的确，然而大多数美国
人对公共政策的制定毫无影响力，这也是川普减税措施并没有惠及普通美国民众的原因。
That’s the conclusion of professors Martin Gilens of Princeton and Benjamin
Page of Northwestern, who analyzed 1,799 policy issues before Congress and
found that “the preferences of the average American appear to have only a
minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy
”.
Instead, American lawmakers respond to the demands of wealthy individuals
(typically corporate executives and Wall Street moguls) and of big
corporations, those with the most lobbying prowess and deepest pockets to
bankroll campaigns.
普林斯顿大学教授马丁·吉伦斯（Martin Gilens）和西北大学教授本杰明·佩奇（
Benjamin Page）也得出了上述结论。两位学者在研究1799项公共政策后发现，“美国民
众的好恶似乎对美国公共政策制定的影响力接近于零，或者只有在统计上存在无关紧要的
影响”。相反，美国立法者只对富裕人士（大多是公司高管或华尔街精英）和大公司的声
音给予了回应，富裕人士和大公司有雄厚的经济实力推动有利于自己的游说活动。
Don’t blame American corporations. They’re in business to make profits and
maximize their share prices, not to serve America.
But because of their dominance in American politics and their commitment to
share prices instead of the wellbeing of Americans, it’s folly to count on
them to create good American jobs or improve American competitiveness.
请不要责怪美国公司，他们存在的目的在于创造利润并尽量抬高自己的股价，他们没有服
务美国社会的义务。那些大公司主导著美国的政策走向，他们满脑子都是自己的股价而不
是美国民众的福祉，指望他们为美国民众创造就业岗位或提高美国的国家竞争力是非常愚
蠢的想法。
I’m not suggesting we emulate the Chinese economic system. I am suggesting
that we not be smug about the American economic system.
Instead of trying to get China to change, we should lessen the dominance of
big American corporations over American policy.
China isn’t the reason half of America hasn’t had a raise in four decades.
The simple fact is Americans cannot thrive within a system run largely by big
American corporations, organized to boost their share prices but not boost
Americans.
我并不是在向大家暗示美国应该模仿中国的经济制度，我只是建议大家不应认为美国的经
济制度已经完美。我们要做的应该是降低美国大公司对公共政策制定的影响力，而不是改
变中国。半数美国民众在过去40年里收入没有实质增加，这并非中国的错。事实很简单，
美国是不可能在一个由大公司主导政策制定、以大公司股价为重而不是美国人民利益为重
的制度下实现繁荣的。