台 灣 立 報 《 教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導 》 2010-11-04─立報—教育專題深入報導─智邦公益電子報
enews.url.com.tw · April 04,2014台 灣 立 報 《 教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導 》 2010-11-04
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| 台 灣 立 報 《 教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導》 2010-11-04 |
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| 消失的美國夢：體認比爾蓋茲遙不可及 美國夢破碎 | 本報訊 |
策劃、編譯■李威撰、謝雯伃 美國目前總體經濟呈現出貧富差距拉大、失業率飆高的景象，當財富過於集中，在貧者愈貧、富者越富的趨勢下，人人皆有致富機會的美國夢，究竟還剩幾分？左派勢力未見成長，右派團體卻氣勢正旺，歐巴馬的社福政策及取消富人減稅措施屢遭阻礙。追求經濟成長與強調縮小貧富差距，是否無法並存？■2009年4月在華爾街的遊行活動中，一名抗議者手持寫著「美國夢結束」的標語。（圖文／路透）努力工作以致富的公式深植於美國人的心中，這有助於解釋何以美國人普遍願意容忍所得不平等的狀況出現。The work hard, get rich formula is deeply embedded in the American psyche, which helps explain why Americans have generally tolerated inequality.對諸如甘迺迪和洛克斐勒等世家大族來說，他們付出了創意與汗水然後達到頂峰；山姆．華爾頓從阿肯色州一間小雜貨店開始，最後建立了全球的沃爾瑪帝國；谷歌創辦人裴基和布林從車庫開始了他們的公司。For every dynastic family name such as Kennedy or Rockefeller, there are those who reached the top through creativity and sweat, from Sam Walton who built the global Walmart empire from a single dime store in Arkansas, to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin who started their company in a garage.對渴望擁有更美好生活的移民來說，美國之所以能成為燈塔的原因，這些從赤貧到成功的故事是不可或缺的原因之一。沒有人比美國總統歐巴馬更能夠具體呈現這種美國精神了，他的母親曾一度靠食物券來養活一家大小，而他卻能夠進入一流大學，並追求世上最具權力的職位。Rags to riches （1） tales are an integral part of what makes the United States a beacon to immigrants who dream of a better life. No one embodies that better than President Obama, whose mother once turned to food stamps to feed her family, yet he was able to attend top-tier universities and aspire to the most powerful office in the world.在布魯金斯研究所專研幸福的經濟學家葛拉罕表示，包括窮人在內的絕大多數美國人都相信，要獲得成功，辛勤工作比運氣更為重要。葛拉罕以「如果我夠努力工作，我也能夠成為比爾．蓋茲」來解釋這一哲理。Graham, the Brookings economist who studies happiness, said most Americans, including the poor, believe that hard work is more important than luck in getting ahead. "If I work hard enough, I too can be Bill Gates," is how Graham explains the philosophy.長期失業及沒有健康保險的人，是唯一無法同意這個見解的團體，他們在衡量幸福時，排名始終是墊底的。The only groups that don't share that view and consistently rank toward the bottom on measures of happiness are the long-term unemployed and those without health care （2）, she said.在經濟蕭條時，這兩個族群人數都在成長。今年9月，全美有610萬人失業超過6個月，比起這波經濟蕭條剛開始時多了4倍。Both groups grew during the recession （3）. As of September, there were 6.1 million people who had been out of work for more than six months, more than four times as many as there were at the start of the recession.黛博拉．柯爾曼就是長期失業族群中的一員。她現年58歲，曾經在辛辛那提的電信公司擔任過經理，目前已失業超過2年，她毫不掩飾自己的憤怒。「當華爾街的有錢人在縱情狂歡之時，我失去了所有，我是否對此感到生氣？沒錯，我氣炸了。」她說：「我就是眾多喪失所有的人當中一位，然後被掃到地毯下，被掩蓋起來佯裝無事。」Deborah Coleman is one of the long-term unemployed. There is no disguising the anger felt by the 58-year-old former telecommunications company manager in Cincinnati, who has been out of work for more than two years. "Am I pissed that I have lost everything while the rich on Wall Street are still living it up? You bet I'm pissed," she said. "I'm one of the many people who've lost everything and then been swept under the carpet."失去信心 喪夢者出現根據巴黎大學經濟學家法契尼的說法，不平等就像膽固醇一樣，區分成「好」與「壞」兩種。「好」的那一種是會激發渴望成功的抱負，葛拉罕以比爾．蓋茲為例，它鼓勵人們努力邁向成功。「壞」的那一種會助長破滅感，讓人覺得自己無論多辛苦工作，都不可能獲勝。Like cholesterol （4）, there is a "good" and a "bad" kind of inequality, according to Francois Facchini, an economist at the University of Paris. The "good" kind is aspirational. It encourages people to strive toward success, like Graham's Bill Gates analogy. The "bad" kind fosters disillusionment （5）, a feeling that no matter how hard you work, you cannot win.民調專家約翰．佐格比認為，越來越多美國人掉進第二類。他稱這些人為「喪夢者」，這些人不再相信努力工作能帶來成功的美國夢。Pollster John Zogby sees a growing number of Americans falling into the second category. He calls them the "Dreamless Dead," those who no longer believe in the existence of the American Dream of hard work begetting success.他說，那些很努力工作卻無法獲得成功的人，對美國夢失去信心。從1990年代開始，佐格比注意到，表示自己目前所從事的工作比前一份工作薪水還要少的人數比例正在增加。他說：「就是從那時起，我開始專注在美國夢，因為我假定美國夢正成為泡影。」Those who work hard but fail to get ahead lose faith in the dream, he said. Beginning in the 1990s, Zogby noticed an increase in the percentage of people who said they were working in jobs that paid less than previous positions. "That's when I started to zero in on the American Dream because my assumption was it was going up in smoke," he said.在1990年代早期，接受佐格比調查的人當中，有14％的人表示他們當時賺得錢比先前來得少。經濟衰退以後，這個比例又翻高一倍以上。In the early 1990s, 14 percent of those polled by Zogby said they were making less money than they had before. After the recession, the percentage had more than doubled.在通用汽車服務長達34年的珍娜．湯森德，就是面臨大幅減薪的人之一。由於通用汽車要出售她所工作的印第安納波利斯廠給一名私人投資者，所以她被告知必須減薪50％。工會的成員反對這項交易，工廠將在明年關閉。Janet Townsend, who has worked at General Motors for 34 years, is one of those faced with the prospect of a drastic pay cut. She was told she'd have to take a 50 percent wage reduction because GM wanted to sell the Indianapolis plant where she works to a private investor. Union workers opposed the deal. The plant will be shut next year.「我從來沒有看過任何汽車業的領導階層或華爾街銀行家在減薪，事實上他們的收入似乎持續在增加。」她說：「美國是建立在生命、自由和追求幸福的基礎之上。」"I haven't seen any auto executives or Wall Street bankers taking a paycut, in fact their pay seems to keep going up," she said. "This country is built on the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.「但是，當一間公司試圖要我減薪50％，那麼你就是在增加你的幸福，卻同時剝奪我追求幸福的權利。」"But when a corporation tries to make me take a 50 percent pay cut, then you're taking away my right to pursue happiness while enhancing your own."（路透Reuters）關鍵字詞Key Words1. rags to riches(phr.) 由窮轉富2. health care (n.) 醫療保健3. recession (n.) 經濟衰退4. cholesterol(n.) 膽固醇5. disillusionment(n.) 幻想破滅 |
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