奥巴马每周电视讲话 向全美劳动者致敬

Weekly Address: President Obama Honors America's Workers; Outlines Steps Taken to Strengthen the Middle Class

 每周电视讲话：奥巴马总统向全美劳动者致敬；并强调了数项巩固中产阶级地位的措施

 

WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Obama reaffirmed his commitment to America’s workers and the middle class.  Even before the current recession hit, the middle class had been hurting from stagnant 1 incomes and declining economic security.  To repair the economy and strengthen the middle class, the administration has invested in infrastructure 2 projects that will lead to jobs in the private sector 3, taken emergency steps to prevent the layoffs 4 of hundreds of thousands of teachers and cops, and cut taxes for 95 percent of working families.  The President is fighting to pass a law that will provide tax breaks for folks who create jobs in America. 

 华盛顿：在本周的讲话中，奥巴马总统重申了他对全美劳动者和中产阶级的承诺。早在本次衰退袭击之前，中产阶级就已经受到收入滞涨和经济安全性下降的伤害。为了修复经济和巩固中产阶级地位，政府投资了多项基础设施项目为私营部门提供了大量就业岗位，并采取紧急措施防止数十万教师和警察下岗失业，同时为95%的工薪家庭提供了税收减免优惠。当前，总统正在努力促成一项法律的通过，该法律将为在美国创造就业的人们提供税收优惠。

 

On Monday, we celebrate Labor 5 Day. It’s a chance to get together with family and friends, to throw some food on the grill 6, and have a good time.  But it’s also a day to honor the American worker – to reaffirm our commitment to the great American middle class that has, for generations, made our economy the envy of the world.

 下周一，我们将庆祝劳动节。这是家人和朋友团聚的机会，大家烤烤肉，共享美好时光。但同时也是向全美劳动者致敬的日子——再次肯定美国伟大的中产阶级几代人所创造的让全世界艳羡的经济成就。

 

That is especially important now.  I don’t have to tell you that this is a very tough time for our country.  Millions of our neighbors have been swept up in the worst recession in our lifetimes.  And long before this recession hit, the middle class had been taking some hard shots.  Long before this recession, the values of hard work and responsibility that built this country had been given short shrift.

 今年的劳动节意义尤为重要。不用我说，这是我们国家面临的非常困难的时期。无数我们的邻居亲友被此生最严重的衰退席卷。早在此次衰退来袭之前，中产阶级就已经遭受重创。衰退前很久，建设国家所需的努力工作和责任心的价值早已成为昙花一现。

 

For a decade, middle class families felt the sting of stagnant incomes and declining economic security.  Companies were rewarded with tax breaks for creating jobs overseas.  Wall Street firms turned huge profits by taking, in some cases, reckless risks and cutting corners.  All of this came at the expense of working Americans, who were fighting harder and harder just to stay afloat – often borrowing against inflated 7 home values to pay their bills.  Ultimately, the house of cards collapsed 8.

 十多年来，中产阶级家庭一直承受着收入滞涨和经济安全性下降的刺痛。在海外创造就业的企业获得了税收优惠。华尔街的公司通过一些不顾后果的冒险和投机取巧攫取了巨额利润。所有这些都以美国劳动人民的辛劳为代价，他们不停的努力奋斗只是为了能够度过难关——常常只能利用膨胀的房屋价格来贷款偿付日常开销。然而最终，空中楼阁倒塌了。

 

So this Labor Day, we should recommit ourselves to our time-honored values and to this fundamental truth: to heal our economy, we need more than a healthy stock market; we need bustling 9 main streets and a growing, thriving middle class.  That’s why I will keep working day-by-day to restore opportunity, economic security, and that basic American Dream for our families and future generations.

 因此这个劳动节，我们需要再次承认我们尊崇的历史悠久的价值观和基本事实：为了治愈我们的经济，我们需要一个更加健康的股票市场；我们需要繁荣的市场和持续增长的充满活力的中产阶级。这就是为什么我日复一日的努力工作来创造机会，重塑经济安全，为我们的家庭和下一代重造基本的美国梦的原因。

 

First, that means doing everything we can to accelerate job creation. The steps we have taken to date have stopped the bleeding: investments in roads and bridges and high-speed railroads that will lead to hundreds of thousands of jobs in the private sector; emergency steps to prevent the layoffs of hundreds of thousands of teachers and firefighters and police officers; and tax cuts and loans for small business owners who create most of the jobs in America. We also ended a tax loophole that encouraged companies to create jobs overseas. Instead, I’m fighting to pass a law to provide tax breaks to the folks who create jobs right here in America.

 首先，这意味着我们要尽一切努力来加速创造就业。迄今为止我们所采取的措施已经止住了出血：在公路，桥梁和高速铁路上的投资为私营部门提供了数十万工作岗位；采取的紧急措施也防止了数十万教师，消防员和警察的下岗失业；并为在国内创造大部分就业的中小企业主提供了税收减免优惠和贷款。我们同时也堵住了鼓励公司在海外创造就业的税收漏洞。另一方面，我正在努力促成一项法律的通过，该法律将为在国内创造就业的人们提供减税优惠。

 

But strengthening our economy means more than that.  We’re fighting to build an economy in which middle class families can afford to send their kids to college, buy a home, save for retirement 10, and achieve some measure of economic security when their working days are done.  And over the last two years, that has meant taking on some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for far too long.

 但巩固我们的经济需要做的远不止如此。我们正在努力建设一个经济体系让中产家庭能够担负得起孩子大学学费，买得起房子，有退休积蓄，退休后能有一定的经济安全保障。在过去的两年里，这些意味着与长期占据着华盛顿主导力量的强大特殊利益集团进行斗争。

 

That’s why we’ve put an end to the wasteful 11 subsidies 12 to big banks that provide student loans.  We’re going to use that money to make college more affordable 13 for students instead.

 这是为什么我们终止了向学生提供贷款的大银行发放浪费的补贴的原因。相反我们将用这些钱让学生们能更担负得起大学费用。

 

That’s why we’re making it easier for workers to save for retirement, with new ways of saving their tax refunds 14 and a simpler system for enrolling 15 in retirement plans like 401(k)s.  And we’re going to keep up the fight to protect Social Security for generations to come.

 这也是我们让劳动者更方便的为退休贮蓄的原因——通过新的方式来贮蓄退税金或者加入像401K【注1】退休金计划之类的简单体系。而且我们也在努力保护下一代的社会保险的安全。

 

That’s why we stopped insurance companies from refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions and dropping folks who become seriously ill.

 这是为什么我们阻止了保险公司拒绝为存在既往病史的人们提供保险和拒绝为严重病人赔付的恶劣行径的原因。

 

And that’s why we cut taxes for 95 percent of working families, and passed a law to help make sure women earn equal pay for equal work in the United States of America.

 这也是为什么我们为95%的工薪家庭提供减税优惠，同时通过法律来帮助在美国工作的女性与男性一样同工同酬的原因。

 

This Labor Day, we are reminded that we didn’t become the most prosperous country in the world by rewarding greed and recklessness.  We did it by rewarding hard work and responsibility.  We did it by recognizing that we rise or we fall together as one nation – one people – all of us vested in one another.  That is how we have succeeded in the past. And that is how we will not only rebuild this economy, but rebuild it stronger than ever before.

 今年的劳动节，我们要记得我们不是通过贪婪和不负责任成为世界上最繁荣的国家的。我们是通过努力工作和忠于职守做到的。我们作为一个国家，作为一个整体，每个人都心连心站在一起，同荣辱，共患难，我们做到了。这是我们过去成功的途径。同时这也将不仅仅是我们重建经济的途径，更是我们把我们国家建设的更加强大的途径。

 

Thank you. And I hope you have a great Labor Day weekend.

 谢谢收听。祝愿大家劳动节愉快！

 

注1：401(K)是美国于1981年创立一种延后课税的退休金帐户，由于美国政府将相关规定明订在国税条例第401(K)条中，故简称为401(K)计划。401(K)是专门提供给私人公司的一种退休计划，是目前美国公司里选用最普及的退休计划。401(K)计划是由公司提供，员工可依照个人需求，自由选择参加的退休金计划。主要的进行方式是：员工每个月从薪水中提存一部份金额到公司提供的401(K)退休计划中，同时公司也自愿性的针对员工提存的部份，提出相对金额（Matching fund)作为奖励，直到员工离职或退休。401K计划一方面是省税，另一方面也是鼓励不喜欢储蓄的美国人存钱