网络安全检测|网络安全服务|网络安全扫描-香港墨客投资移动版

主页 > 业界资讯 > imtoken

2016考研英语阅读题源经济学人文章:奥斯本将军(2)

  他指的计划是减少开支,增加税收和刺激商业等一揽子措施,以期2018年时公共财政能增长且有盈余。这个目标其实并不像奥斯本说的那么坚决。经济不景气时,计划推迟了好几次:本来明年大选之前赤字应该消除了的。简而言之,这个计划不过是奥斯本自己对不断变化的经济结论的一个表达。

  No matter. The recovery, and his political rivals' failure to predict it, has enshrined the plan assacred and inflexible. This is a mark of the political capital Mr Osborne is now drawing on, evenas he admitted the economy's many remaining weaknesses. His Labour Party rival, the shadowchancellor Ed Balls, who chuntered grudgingly throughout the budget speech, appears tohave been outdone. So have Mr Osborne's many erstwhile Tory critics. The apparentlydaunting task of arguing that the economy is stronger yet still too weak for giveaways turnedout to be a cinch. The chancellor was triumphant.

  不过这没什么关系。经济复苏了,他的政治对手又没有预料到这一点,使得这个计划变得神圣不可动摇。这也是奥斯本所倚重的标志性政治资本,即便他承认经济还有还多缺点。他的工党对手,影子财政大臣艾德.鲍斯在整个演讲期间都心有不甘的喃喃自语,看上去已经被淘汰了。托尼.布莱尔执政时期很多批评奥斯本的人也是这样。至于那个显然烫手山芋似的任务,即申明经济虽然好转但依然无力分派福利,现在也把握十足。奥斯本现在得意万分。

  That patently owes as much to crafty politics as to economics, and Mr Osborne showed plentymore in his speech. It was less weaselly than stoat-like—a whirligig of policies and pledges thatappeared more fascinating than substantial. They included several previously flagged trapsfor Labour. Legislation to cap the welfare bill—a popular idea, tricky for Labour, and of onlytoken importance to the cost of welfare—is to be introduced to Parliament next week.Announcing some money for next year's 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, the chancelloreven found the opportunity to invite comparison between the medieval monarch ithumbled, King John, and another brother-betrayer, Labour's leader Ed Miliband. It was one ofthe better budget gags.

  这个胜利除了经济原因,也要归功于其灵活的政治手腕。而奥斯本在他的演讲中披露了其他的原因。这并非是白鼬一般的狡猾,而仅仅是让政策与承诺看上去吸引人,而非简单的有料。其中包括了工党之前树立的几项旗帜性的(政策)口号。通过立法给福利开支设定上限是一项广受欢迎的政策,是工党(收买人心)的把戏,其面子功夫上的重要性掩盖了福利成本。而这个政策下周就会提交到议会。在宣告明年举行大宪章800周年庆典的预算之际,奥斯本甚至找了个机会比较起中世纪享有盛誉的君主约翰与一个脱党的同志——工党魁首文立彬。这是结束预算讨论的好招之一。

  The chancellor's more substantial offers appeared similarly designed to outfox his rivals. Byraising the income tax threshold to £10,500, Mr Osborne will hope to woo aspirational lowearners, a group that currently votes, if at all, for anyone except the Tories. By giving retireesmore say over their pension pots, a more ambitious ploy, he must hope to stanch theseepage of silver-haired Tory voters to the UK Independence Party, which has no economicpolicy to speak of. To give the chancellor his due, pulling out a surprise liberal reform of thiskind seemed also a sensible way to negate the unrealistic demands for a splurge.

  奥斯本手里更多的实打实计划同样是用来智胜竞争对手的。通过将收入税门槛升至10,500英镑,奥斯本希望能吸引有迫切渴求的低收入者。如果他们去投票的话,这些人会支持任何一个候选人,除了保守党人。通过给这些退休人员更多的养老金这样一个更有野心的策略,奥斯本肯定希望阻止白发苍苍的保守党选民流失到英国独立党那里。后者没有什么经济政策可言。为了对奥斯本公平起见,这种类似自由派的改革看上去也是较合适的方法来打消(民众)不切实际的挥霍要求。

  The method in his trickery

  施诡计的方法

  And there is an important truth in that. Though Mr Osborne's trickery is always evident, so,increasingly, is the seriousness of his purpose. For all his feints, traps and compromises, thechancellor has so far stripped the public sector of 600,000 jobs, capped welfare and overseen,in a downturn, historic growth in private-sector employment. He has cut business taxes,thereby persuading employers to accept a rise in the minimum wage.

  奥斯本的诡计中有个重要的事实。尽管奥斯本很明显用了诡计,但是,更得提的是他严肃的目的。除了佯攻,圈套和承诺,到目前为止,他已经在公共部门削减了60万个职位,封顶了福利项目,并在这个经济衰退时期监督着私营部门的历史性增长。他还降低了营业税,因此促使雇主提高了最低工资。

(责任编辑:admin)