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【中文标题】中国扩张的教训
【原文标题】The lesson of the Chinese invasion
【登载媒体】沙龙杂志
【来源地址】http://www.salon.com/news/china/index.html?story=/news/feature/2011/09/02/sirota_china
【翻译方式】人工
【声 明】本翻译供Anti-CNN使用,未经AC或译者许可,不得转载。
【译 文】
The growing success of our Asian rival shows that we are no longer willing to invest in our own future。
亚洲的成功发展表明我们无法再像以前那样,对未来进行投资了。
Many economic Nostradamuses have long predicted that the epitaph on America's tombstone will ultimately read "Made In China." But casual observers probably didn't think the funeral procession would happen this fast. In the last year, though, most have wised up. Thanks to a spate of mind-blowing headlines, we are learning that the Chinese invasion isn't just a distant possibility -- it's happening right now.
许多经济学的预言家都提到将来很有可能,就连在美国墓碑上都会刻着“中国制造”的字样。在去年,尽管已经有了一些这种情况,但是,人们通常可能认为不会这么夸张。事实上,大量令人兴奋的文章标题都说明了,中国的扩张并不是不会发生---而是,已经发生,正在发生。
First, in February, ABC News reported that almost every Americana-themed trinket sold in the Smithsonian Institute is made in China. Then news hit that San Francisco is importing its new Bay Bridge from China. Then came the New York Times dispatch about the Big Apple awarding Chinese state-subsidized firms huge taxpayer-funded contracts to "renovate the subway system, refurbish the Alexander Hamilton Bridge over the Harlem River and build a new Metro-North train platform near Yankee Stadium."
在二月份的时候,美国广播公司(American Broadcasting Company)新闻报道说,在史密森学会售出的小饰品中,绝大部分包括以美国为主题的物件都产自中国。还有报道说旧金山正在从中国进口海湾桥梁建筑材料。《纽约时报》上说,由中国国有企业接手的比如翻新地铁系统,翻新哈莱姆河亚历山大汉密尔顿大桥,或者在洋基球场附近,新建一个地铁站等项目,政府都会对这些巨额纳税人给予相应的补贴。在这项政策的推动下, 纽约市表示非常乐意与之合作。“
Astounding as all of that is, it was quickly topped by news last week reminding us that the new Martin Luther King monument in Washington was designed by a Chinese government sculptor and assembled by low-wage Chinese workers.
令人不可思议的这一切都说明:各大媒体上报道的中国迅速扩张已经成为事实,甚至位于华盛顿州的新的马丁路德金纪念碑都是中国政府雕刻家制成的,又是由他们廉价的劳动力组装而成的。可见,中国扩张已经以迅雷不及掩耳之势影响到了美国各地。
The trend is enough to trouble any American. After all, when a memorial for a civil rights leader who deplored "starvation wages" and died supporting a sanitation union's strike is built by non-union serfs from China, it's a good sign there's a big problem.
这种趋势足以令每一位美国人感到焦虑。毕竟,连一个本国为民主权利而战斗,为卫生联盟而战斗的英雄的纪念碑都需要中国工人完成,就足以证明问题的严重性了。
But then, what exactly is that problem?
Xenophobes will say China's ascendance threatens America's global cultural hegemony and promises to create a dystopia forcing us all to endure the supposed horrors of speaking Mandarin and using chopsticks.
Such misguided and bigoted demagoguery, though, distracts from the real crisis staring at us in our own mirror -- a crisis not of other, but of self. Indeed, for all the fears of external assault, the Chinese invasion tells us the true problem is that America is no longer willing or able to invest in its own future.
那么,问题究竟出在哪里呢?
排外主义会说,中国的东渐威胁到了美国的全球文化霸权地位,他们创造着一种奇怪的力量迫使全球讲汉话,用筷子。
尽管这种误导和偏见使我们无心集中精力于自身的危机,但是,在所有的外部攻击中,中国的扩张证明:美国不愿意也没有能力为其未来投资。
This problem is most obvious -- and shocking -- in our government. As opposed to multinational corporations, which care only about maximizing shareholder profit, our public-policy arena is supposed to be focused on building America. But in this golden age of big-money politics, with multinational corporations buying our lawmakers, we get the opposite -- even during an unemployment crisis. Today, municipalities outsource public works projects, congresses water down "Buy America" laws, and presidents champion trade deals that encourage companies to send jobs overseas. That trickles down to give us American iconography made in Chinese factories, American real estate owned by Chinese companies, and American civil rights memorials constructed with Chinese slave labor.
这个问题最明显的和令人震惊的在于我们的政府。相对于跨国公司只关心股东利益最大化利润来说,我们的公共政策的舞台应该是集中在如何建设美国。但在这种大的金钱政治的黄金时代,跨国公司购买我们的立法者,即使在失业危机情况下我们得到相反的 。如今市公共工程项目外包,通过“买美国货”的法律聚集水,总经理拥护贸易协议,鼓励企业向海外输送工作机会。美国影像在中国工厂制造,中国公司拥有美国房地产,美国民权纪念馆由中国劳动力建造。
The public excuse from our corrupt politicians is that Americans don't really want the jobs that could be created if lawmakers prioritized domestic investment. Last week, for instance, the White House's U.S. trade representative, Ron Kirk, said we shouldn't be concerned with jobs that are about "making things that, frankly, we don't want to make in America -- you know, cheaper products, low-skill jobs." It was a reprise of 2006, when Sen. John McCain told union members the same thing.
民众原谅我们腐败的政客,如果立法者优先考虑国内的投资,美国人并不真正想要的创造就业机会。例如,上周白宫的美国贸易代表柯克(Ron Kirk)说,我们不应该关心“坦率地说,我们不希望在美国制造产品的工作——越便宜的产品需要越低端的技能,我们不需要这种就业机会。“这重复了2006年时当参议员麦凯恩告诉联盟的成员同样的事情。
The truth, of course, is the opposite -- millions of jobless Americans are desperate for some shred of economic patriotism that would put them back to work. But our political system isn't about patriotism anymore. It's about the deception embodied in Kirk's talking points.
Thanks to that, the idea of successfully legislating a domestic investment agenda seems not like mere wishful thinking. It seems as wholly inconceivable as walking into a big-box store and finding lots of products that are still made in the USA.
当然事实是相反的,数百万失业的美国人非常渴望依靠仅存的经济爱国主义能使他们重返工作。但我们的政治体系不再关于爱国主义。它体现在柯克的谈话要点欺骗手段上。多亏成功地制定国内投资议程的想法似乎不仅仅是一厢情愿。似乎很难以置信走进一家大商店,发现很多商品仍是美国制造的。
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