Weekly Address: A Path Towards a Thriving Middle Class
每周电视讲话：中产阶级的繁荣之路
WASHINGTON, DC — In this week’s address, the President described the progress our economy has made, laying a foundation for a future that prioritizes middle-class economics. This week, the President will send a budget to Congress centered on the idea that everyone who works hard should have the chance to get ahead. His plan will reverse harmful sequestration cuts and instead make paychecks go further, create good jobs here in the United States, and prepare hardworking Americans to earn higher wages. The President made the case for his Budget, and affirmed his commitment to doing everything he can to ensure more Americans can get ahead in this new economy.
华盛顿：在本周的讲话中，奥巴马总统叙述了经济发展所取得的成就，称其为未来有利于中产阶级经济发展方式奠定了基础。本周，总统将向国会提交一份预算方案，主要思路是每个辛勤付出的人都应有机会获得成功。该计划将逆转劫贫济富的错误发展方式，增加人民实际收入，在国内创造更多高薪工作，让辛勤工作的美国人民技能得到提升，挣到更高的工资。总统高度重视这份预算方案，并承诺将继续尽一切努力，确保更多美国民众在新经济环境下取得成功。
Hi, everybody. At a moment when our economy is growing, our businesses are creating jobs at the fastest pace since the 1990s, and wages are starting to rise again, we have to make some choices about the kind of country we want to be.
大家好!当前经济发展持续向好，就业岗位的增长速度也超过上世纪90年度最高水平，工资开始上涨，但我们要选择一下我们需要什么样的未来。
Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well? Or will we build an economy where everyone who works hard has a chance to get ahead?
我们是接受一个只有利于极少数富人的经济体呢？还是打造一个每个辛勤付出的人都能获得成功机会的经济体呢？
That was the focus of my State of the Union Address – middle-class economics. The idea that this country does best when everyone gets their fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.
这是我的国情咨文重点讲述的内容：中产阶级经济发展方式。这一思路就是，当所有人都能得到公平的机会，承担共同的责任，遵守同样的规则时，我们的国家发展的就最好。
This week, I will send a budget to Congress that’s built on those values.
本周，我将向国会提交一份基于以上价值观的预算方案。
We’ll help working families’ paychecks go farther by treating things like paid leave and child care like the economic priorities that they are. We’ll offer Americans of every age the chance to upgrade their skills so they can earn higher wages, with plans like making two years of community college free for every responsible student. And we’ll keep building the world’s most attractive economy for high-wage jobs, with new investments in research, infrastructure, manufacturing, and expanded access to faster internet and new markets.
我们要帮助工薪家庭，给他们提供带薪休假、儿童保育服务等福利，使他们的实际收入得到提高，把这些事当成经济发展的优先事项来考虑。我们要为各个年龄段的美国人民提供机会，让大家提升劳动技能，找到高薪的工作。为优秀学生提供两年免费社区大学教育计划就是实现这一目标的方式。我们要继续打造全球最具吸引力的经济发展环境，提供高薪职位。为此，我们要在科研、基础设施建设、制造业、宽带建设和开拓新市场上加大投资。
We can afford to make these investments. Since I took office, we’ve cut our deficits by about two-thirds – the fastest sustained deficit reduction since just after the end of World War II. We just have to be smarter about how we pay for our priorities, and that’s what my budget does. It proposes getting rid of special interest loopholes in our tax code, and using those savings to cut taxes for middle-class families and reward businesses that invest in America. It refuses to play politics with our homeland security, and funds our national security priorities at home and abroad. And it undoes the arbitrary, across-the-board budget cuts known as “the sequester” for our domestic priorities, and matches those investments dollar-for-dollar in resources our troops need to get the job done.
这些都是我们能够承担的投资。自从我主政以来，我们将财政赤字削减了2/3，这是自二次世界大战以来最快的赤字持续削减。我们对如何在优先事项上投资应该更明智，这就是我的预算方案要做的事情。该方案建议消除税法中有利于特殊利益集团的漏洞，利用节省下来的钱为中产家庭减税，鼓励在美国投资的企业。该预算方案在国家安全问题上坚决不玩政治把戏，将为国家安全在境内外的优先事项提供资金。并消除对国内优先事项的绝对的、全面的预算削减，也就是常说的“隔离政策”，将每一分钱投到需要的地方，让我们的军队拥有必要的资源完成他们的工作。
Now, I know that there are Republicans in Congress who disagree with my approach. And like I said in my State of the Union Address, if they have ideas that will help middle-class families feel some economic security, I’m all in to work with them. But I will keep doing everything I can to help more working families make ends meet and get ahead. Not just because we want everyone to share in America’s success – but because we want everyone to contribute to America’s success.
当下，我知道国会的一些共和党人并不同意我的方案。正如我在国情咨文中所说的，如果他们有合适的建议，可以帮助中产家庭获得经济上的安全感，我会全力配合他们。但我将继续尽我一切努力，帮助更多的中产家庭实现收支平衡，取得成功。这不仅仅是因为我们想让每个人都分享美国成功的成果，更是因为我们希望每个人都能为美国的成功贡献自己的力量。
That’s the way the middle class thrived in the last century – and that’s how it will thrive again.
这正是上个世纪中产阶级发展壮大的方式，也是将来其发展壮大的方式。
Thanks, and have a great weekend.
谢谢大家，祝周末愉快！ |