國家破產的故事：字幕

【國家破產了？】

These last few years, I've had to get a lot more careful about how I spend my paycheck. Everyone has. Like I'm eating out less often, holding back on expenses I don't really need, saving for my kid's college.
近幾年，我花錢必須比以前更精打細算。其實每個人都這樣。好比說，較少外食、減少不必要的花費、為孩子存錢上大學等。
I'm getting more responsible, taking control of how I spend. But one thing I can’t control is that every month a big chunk of my paycheck goes off to the government.
我變得更有責任感，更能控制自己的花費。但我唯一不能控制的，就是每月得拿出一大筆錢，繳稅給政府。
It’s not the most fun part of my budget, but I believe in paying taxes.(1) Not just because it’s the law but because that’s how I invest in a better future that I can’t afford to build on my own.雖然繳稅不怎麼好玩，但我仍然認為必須花這筆錢(1)。
這不只是因為法律規定要繳稅，而是為了投資一個更美好的未來，光靠我個人的力量並不夠。
You know that future we all want and nearly every candidate promises us — great schools, a healthy environment, clean energy, good jobs.
你知道我們每人都企盼的未來，也是幾乎所有政治人物在競選時的承諾，就是要有好學校、健康環境、清潔能源和好工作。
But a funny thing happens to our money on its way to that better future. It seems to disappear.
奇怪的是，這些納稅錢並沒有投入到我們美好的未來，而似乎是不見了。
And by the time we get around to investing in it, all we hear is, “sorry, not this year, we’re broke.”
等我們想用這些錢打造美好未來時，只聽到：「抱歉，今年不行，因為政府破產了。」
In fact, we’re so broke, they say, that we have no choice but to slide backwards, cutting things that made this country great — like schools and the EPA ,(2) maybe even Social Security and Medicare.
他們說，國家實在太缺錢，只好走回頭路，讓那些推動國家進步的預算縮水。例如學校和環保署(2)，甚至是社會安全福利和醫療保險。
Wait a minute. Broke? I’m sending in my share of hard-earned cash every month and so are you!
等等，怎麼會破產呢？我每個月都有拿出血汗錢來繳稅，大家也都有啊！
Now, what we’ve got to work with shrinks a lot thanks to corporate tax loopholes and unprecedented tax breaks for the richest 1%.(3) But even after those, we’ve still got over a trillion dollars.(4)
好吧，就算企業逃漏稅，以及最富有的那1%人口(3)，竟然享有空前優惠的稅賦減免，讓我們的國庫大縮水，但我們應該還有上兆美元的稅收啊。(4)
So if we’re broke, what’s happening to all that money?
所以美國要是真的破產，那些錢到底都去哪了？

【錢花在哪裡？】

I decided to look into it and it turns out this whole “broke” story hides a much bigger story — a story of some really dumb choices being made for us — but that actually work against us. The good news is that these are choices, and we can make different ones.
我決定要好好研究一番，結果發現這個「破產」的故事背後藏著更大的內情。政府為我們選擇了一些愚蠢的決策，這些決策事實上不利於人民。幸好這些決策只是選擇之一，我們可以做出不同的選擇。
So, where is all that money going?
那麼，這些錢究竟花到哪去了？
Well first the military takes a big chunk – $726 billion in 2011.(5) Wow! We could build a lot of better future with that kind of money.(6)
首先，軍隊會花一大筆錢，2011年就花了7,260億美元(5)。天啊！我們要是有這筆錢，就可以做好多達成美好未來的事情了。(6)
Spending billions on fighter planes we don’t need or wars with no end, and then saying we’re broke, just isn’t honest. It’s like calling your kid from your billion-dollar yacht to say you can’t afford her lunch money.
砸數十億在用不到的戰鬥機或無止盡的戰爭，然後告訴我們國家破產了，實在不老實。就好比你在自己的億萬遊艇上打電話給小孩，說付不起他的午餐費一樣。
Then hundreds of billions more go to propping up the dinosaur economy. You know, the obsolete system we talked about in The Story of Stuff — the one that produces more pollution, greenhouse gasses and garbage(7) than any other on Earth — and doesn’t even make us happy. In so many ways, it’s just not working, but we’re keeping it in on life support instead of building something better.
接著另外幾千億通通拿去支撐「恐龍經濟」，也就是我們在《東西的故事》裡說的過時經濟體系，這種經濟不僅製造最多污染、溫室氣體和垃圾(7)，甚至不能為人民帶來幸福。儘管恐龍經濟在許多方面都行不通，我們卻還在苦苦支撐，而沒有去打造更好的經濟。

【四種補貼】

A lot of that life support comes in the form of subsidies.(8)
讓恐龍經濟苦撐下去最常見的方法就是補貼。(8)
A subsidy is a giveaway that gives some companies a lift over others. That’s not necessarily a bad thing — we should help companies that are building a better future. The problem is the government keeps lifting up companies that are actually dragging us down.
補貼就是送錢幫某些公司一把，讓他們超越其他業者。這不全然是壞事，我們應該去補貼能共同打造美好未來的公司，問題就是政府總是持續補貼那些拖我們向下沈淪的公司。
Everywhere you look along the dinosaur economy, you’ll find these subsidies.
放眼望去，恐龍經濟中處處可見此類補貼。
There’s spending subsidies: where the government just gives our money away — like payments that benefit big agribusiness, while helping drive family farms off a cliff.(9) Or the less obvious version where the government foots the bill for things corporations should pay for themselves like cleaning up toxic chemical spills or giant livestock manure ponds.(10) Or building roads that go to only one place — a new Walmart.(11) Or paying for polluting and wasteful garbage incinerators that would never make financial sense to build on their own.(12)
有所謂的支出補貼，也就是政府直接把我們的血汗錢撒出去，譬如補貼大型農企業，卻因此斷絕了家庭式農場的生路(9)。或是隱藏版的支出補貼，由政府為企業自己該花錢做的事情買單，譬如出錢清除有毒化學品外洩，或清理大型的牲畜蓄糞池(10)，或鋪一條只通到沃爾瑪新分店的道路(11)。其他像是補貼企業興建既汙染又浪費的垃圾焚化爐，若非如此，企業自己花錢蓋根本划不來。(12)
Then there’s tax subsidies: which excuse big corporations from contributing their fair share — like the enormous tax breaks granted to oil and gas companies(13) even in times of record profits.(14) These subsidies amount to billions of dollars(15) we should be collecting and putting to good use.
再談到租稅補貼，政府等於讓企業免於承擔公平繳稅的義務。石油與天然氣公司因此享有大幅的稅賦減免(13)，即使獲利豐厚時期也不例外(14)。這些補貼總計達數十億美元(15)，我們應該拿來做點好事情。
And there’s risk transfer subsidies: where the government acts as an investment bank and even an insurance company for corporations doing risky things, like building nuclear reactors.(16) If anything goes wrong, we have to cover for them.
再說到風險移轉補貼，政府變得像投資銀行甚至是保險公司，保障企業的高風險投資，如興建核子反應爐(16)。要是哪個環節出錯了，買單的還是全國人民。
There’s freebie subsidies: where the government gives stuff that belongs to all of us to corporations for cheap or even free. That’s billions more we should be collecting but never see! Like permits to mine public lands, granted at prices set in the Mining Law of 1872.(17) Really. 1872. President Grant signed this law to encourage settlement of the West. News flash: it’s settled.
然後是好康的補貼，也就是政府把公有的東西便宜或免費大放送給企業。這麼一來又有幾十億美元不翼而飛了！就像公有地的採礦權，權利金居然還是依照1872年礦業法訂定的價格(17)。你沒聽錯，就是古早古早的1872年。格蘭特總統簽署礦業法，是為了鼓勵人們開拓西部，結果價格就這麼定下來了，真是奇聞啊。
And all this doesn’t even count externalized costs. They don’t show up on any spreadsheet and could amount to trillions of dollars — they include the damage to the environment, public health and the climate that this dinosaur economy causes. Without laws that make the polluters pay, we all pay with the loss of clean water and air, or increased asthma and cancer.(18)
以上補貼都還沒算上外部成本。外部成本不會出現在記帳本上，且金額可高達上兆，這包括恐龍經濟對環境、大眾健康、氣候所造成的傷害等。若沒有法律要求汙染者付費，到頭來反而是全民買單，代價包括喪失乾淨水源與清新空氣，或者越來越多人罹患氣喘和癌症。(18)
By the time we’ve handed out all these subsidies, there isn’t even enough money to pay our bills — forget about building the better future.
全民買單這一長串補貼後，剩下的錢連繳自己帳單都不夠，更別提建設更好的未來。

【重新分配預算】

So why is there always enough money for the dinosaur economy, from big oil to bailouts for big banks, but when it comes to building a better future we’re supposedly broke? Maybe it’s because these guys know how to ask for it.
為什麼恐龍經濟永遠不缺錢？石油巨擘和大銀行總能得到減稅或紓困，為何只要提到建設更美好未來，政府就說破產？也許是因為這些商人比較懂得找門路。
Their lobbyists and giant campaign contributions let the government know what they want, and what they’ll do if they don’t get it. And it works. US Senators who voted to keep big oil subsidies in 2011 had received 5 times more in Big Oil campaign cash than those who voted to end them.(19)
企業派出說客、大手筆資助選戰，好讓政府瞭解他們要什麼，不順他們的意又會有什麼後果。這的確有效。2011年投票贊成維持石油公司租稅補貼的美國參議員，從石油巨擘拿到的政治獻金，就高達反對議員的五倍。(19)
So, while subsidies should be a tool for government to help companies that are helping all of us, instead, they’ve become a prize for those with the most power to get on the handout list.
所以，原本政府應該利用補貼這個政策工具來提攜對人民有益處的公司，現在卻用來獎勵最有權勢的企業。
But you know who has the real power? We do! What if we got as protective of our tax dollars as we are with the rest of our money? What if we told the government what we want and what we’ll do if we don’t get it – starting with voting them out!
不過真正擁有權力的是誰？正是我們小老百姓！我們可以用捍衛自己荷包的態度來捍衛納稅錢，我們也可以告訴政府我們要什麼，以及政府要是無法達到這些要求時的後果——好比說用選票把他們趕下台！
We could re-direct these dinosaur subsidies, freeing up hundreds of billions of dollars. Forget broke, we could build a better future right now!
我們可以重新分配這些恐龍補貼，從而省下好幾千億美元。於是破產不再，現在就能好好建設美好未來！
We could start by reinvesting the $10 billion in oil and gas subsidies(20) to renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.
原本砸在石油天然氣公司上的百億補貼(20)，可以轉而投資再生能源與提升能源效率。
With just half of that amount, we could put solar systems on over two million rooftops. Then use the rest to retrofit half a million homes, creating jobs and saving energy year after year.(21)
只要那金額的一半（50億美元），就足以在兩百萬個屋頂裝上太陽能發電系統。剩下的部分可拿來翻修50萬戶住家，如此每年既能創造工作機會，又能節約能源(21)。
The average cost of cleaning up a toxic site on the Superfund(22) list is $140 million.(23) Let’s make the polluters pay and instead invest our money in developing safer materials so we don’t have to worry about them spilling in the first place.(24)
要清理一個「超級基金」(22)清單中的污染場址，平均約需耗費1億4千萬美元。(23)我們必須讓始作俑者負清理費，讓納稅錢轉用於研發較安全的物質，才不用擔心它們洩漏汙染環境。(24)
Most chemicals today are made from oil — that’s why they are called petro-chemicals. Switching just 20% of them to biobased materials would create over 100,000 new jobs.(25)
大多數化學品都以石油為原料，所以才叫做石油化學品。用生質材料替代20%的石油化學品，就能創造十萬個以上的新工作。(25)
Instead of subsidizing garbage incinerators, let’s subsidize real solutions, like zero waste.(26) Raising the US recycling rate to 75% would create one and a half million new jobs(27) — with less pollution, less waste, less pressure to harvest and mine new stuff. What’s not to like?
與其補貼垃圾焚化爐，我們更應獎勵真正的解決方案，如採行零廢棄政策(26)。把美國的資源回收率提升到75%，可以提供150萬個新職缺(27)，而且污染更少，浪費更少，開採資源的需求壓力也較小。這不是很好嗎？
That would still leave hundreds of billions of dollars for improving education — the best investment for a healthy economy. With $100 billion,(28) we could increase the number of elementary school teachers by over 40%(29) and give college scholarships to over 6 million students.(30)
如此還剩下幾千億美元可以改善教育，這可是健全經濟最棒的投資。只要1千億美元(28)，就能使國小教師人數增加40%以上(29)，提供大學獎學金給600多萬個學生。(30)
See, we can rebuild the American Dream; we can afford to have a healthy environment, good jobs, and top-notch public education. But not if we continue subsidizing the dinosaur economy.
你瞧，我們確實能再造美國夢。我們負擔得起打造健康環境、好工作和一流教育所需的花費。但若持續補貼恐龍經濟，就不可能實現這些夢想。
So next time you have an idea for a better future and someone tells you, “that’s nice, but there’s no money for that,” you tell them we’re not broke.(31) There is money, it’s ours, and it’s time to invest it right.
下次當你分享這個新美國夢時，如果有人告訴你：「很好啊，可是國家沒錢了」，請你告訴他，美國沒有破產(31)。我們確實有錢，是時候用在對的地方了。