二、多重因素助推美国贫富分化加剧
- Multiple Factors Driving U.S. Economic Polarization
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14240.html
美国的贫富分化由多种因素造成，包括资本垄断、选举政治、政府政策、工会力量被削弱、种族歧视等。文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14240.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14240.html
The polarization between the rich and the poor in the United States is caused by multiple factors, including monopoly, electoral politics, government policies, weakened labor unions, and racial discrimination.文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14240.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14240.html
两极分化、财富分配不公是资本主义的常态和必然趋势，导致美国财富积累和贫困同时产生。20世纪70年代以来，美国保守主义和自由主义思潮兴起，市场化、国际化等理念取代平等价值观，美国经济制度转向推崇私有化、放弃强征累进税、削弱工会、放松金融管制，这些政策选择使贫富分化问题更加无望解决。文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14240.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14240.html
Polarization and unequal distribution of wealth are a chronic malaise and an inevitable result of capitalism, giving rise to both wealth accumulation and poverty in the United States. Since the 1970s, conservatism and liberalism have thrived in the country, and marketization and internationalization have been prioritized over equality. The shift in the U.S. economic system toward promoting privatization, repealing progressive taxation, weakening labor unions and loosening financial regulation has made addressing wealth inequality even more hopeless.文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14240.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14240.html
2011年的“占领华尔街”运动集中体现了美国民众对资本敛财和贫富悬殊的不满。这次运动的核心诉求是反对金融领域的贪污和腐败、经济不平等和社会不公。“穷者越穷，富者越富”等标语反映了民众对美国贫富分化持续恶化极为失望。这次运动被华尔街描述为乌合之众捣乱抗议，美国政府最终选择暴力清场。12年后，美国的贫富分化状况较当时更加严重。文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14240.html
The 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement epitomized the American people’s grievances about unfair capital accumulation and the disparity of wealth. The core message of the movement was to oppose embezzlement and corruption in the financial sector, economic inequality and social injustice. Slogans such as “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer” reflected people’s profound frustration with the ever-widening wealth gap in the United States. The movement was portrayed by Wall Street as a “mob”, and dispersed violently by the U.S. government. But 12 years on, the economic disparity is only getting worse.
两党党争和政党轮替导致政策反复“翻烧饼”。税收政策对缩小贫富差距有重要影响。民主共和两党在税收问题上反复博弈，导致富裕阶层想尽各种办法“合法”避税，无法对其有效征税。新闻机构“为了人民”网站发布报告指出，美国顶级富豪纳税率仅3.4%，远低于普通上班族。
Partisan conflict and government alternation have led to flip-flops in U.S. policies. Tax policy plays an important role in narrowing the wealth gap. But the rivalry between Democrats and Republicans on taxation has resulted in a failure to effectively tax the rich who have tried every possible means to “legally” avoid taxes. According to a report by the news outlet ProPublica, the true tax rate of the richest Americans is only 3.4 percent, far lower than that of ordinary wage earners.
工会力量薄弱加剧贫富分化。20世纪50年代，约三分之一的美国工人属于工会，1978年工会会员率仍有23.8%，2011年已降至11.3%，2021年进一步降至10.3%。黑人工人加入工会的比例较其他种族高，工会化程度下降对黑人工人影响尤其严重，加剧黑人族裔贫穷。
The weakening of trade unions has aggravated such polarization. In the 1950s, about a third of American workers belonged to unions, and the union membership rate was 23.8 percent in 1978. But the number fell to 11.3 percent in 2011 and further to 10.3 percent in 2021. Since Black workers are more likely than workers of other races to be unionized, the decline in unionization has particularly affected them and exacerbated poverty among the Black community.
贫富差距与种族密切相关。美国黑人、西班牙裔或拉丁族裔家庭平均收入约为白人家庭的一半，拥有的净财富仅为白人家庭的15%至20%。美联储数据显示，这一差距在过去几十年显著扩大。1989年以来，白人家庭的财富中值增加了两倍，而黑人、西裔和拉丁族裔家庭的财富几乎没有增加。美联储2019年调查显示，美国中位白人家庭的净资产是中位黑人家庭的10倍，400位最富有的美国亿万富翁的总财富超过了1000万美国黑人家庭的总财富。
The wealth gap is closely related to race. Black, Hispanic or Latino households in the United States earn about half the average income of white households, and own only 15 percent to 20 percent of the latter’s net wealth. The divide has widened significantly over the past few decades according to Fed statistics. Since 1989, the median wealth of white households has tripled, while the wealth of Black, Hispanic and Latino households has barely increased. According to a Fed survey in 2019, the median white household has a net worth 10 times that of the median Black household, and the 400 richest American billionaires have more total wealth than all 10 million Black households combined.
就业市场种族歧视严重。长期以来，美国黑人失业率约为白人的两倍。新冠疫情前，美国失业率曾达到3.5%的历史低点，但黑人和西班牙裔工人的失业率仍远高于此。美国黑人在企业高薪职位中的代表性很低。2020年，《财富》杂志500强企业的首席执行官中只有四位黑人。
Racial discrimination is entrenched in the job market. The unemployment rate of Black workers has long been about twice that of whites. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, the unemployment rate in the United States hit a record low of 3.5 percent, but the number was far higher for Black and Hispanic workers. Black professionals are poorly represented in high-paying corporate jobs. In 2020, there were only four Black CEOs among Fortune 500 companies.
