该不该谴责贫富差距：收入与教育

　　Few of us should be surprised--or threatened--by statistics on inequality. Some Americans believe the more equality the better, but the fact is that the distribution of income and wealth isn't arbitrary. It emerges from broad trends in the economy and is a byproduct of a decade that created 17 million jobs and added 20 percent to median household net worth.

　　我们大多数人都不应该为这些统计数字所体现出的不平等而吃惊或恐慌。有些美国民众认为社会越平等越好，但实际情况却是收入与财富的分配并不是随心所欲的。它随经济宏观发展趋势而出现，同时它也是这10年发展的副产品，这期间经济的发展创造了1700万个就业机会并使中等收入的家庭财产增加了20%。

　　The unstated implication of the state-by-state report was that the states where income disparities are lower are somehow " fairer" than the states with high disparities. But the truth is that among communities, states and regions, income and wealth will vary for many reasons, several of them unavoidable and laudable.

　　上述的各州分类分析报告没有明示但暗含的意思是那些收入差异小的州要比差异大的州更公平些。但事实却是在各社区、各州与各地区，收入与财富的获得是随很多因素变化的，其中有些因素还是不可避免并值得赞许的。

　　Consider, for example, that income varies with education. According to census data, high school dropouts in the work force earn an average of $26,207, while workers with a professional degree average $127,499. Census figures show that many of the states with the widest income gaps have greater diversity in education levels than states with smaller income gaps. Twenty-six percent of those over the age of 24 in New York--the state with the greatest income disparity--have at least a bachelor's degree, whereas in Indiana, which was among the seven states with the lowest income disparity, only 16 percent do. Should we be lamenting that so many New Yorkers went to college?

　　例如，收入会随教育而异。人口调查数据表明，在劳动力大军中，高中辍学者的平均收入是26207美元，而有专业本科学位的平均能挣127499美元。从统计数据可以看出，在多数的收入相差极其悬殊的州，其教育程度上的差异要比那些收入差距不大的州大得多。纽约是收入差距最大的州，其24岁以上的民众中有26%至少具有学士学位。而在收入差距最小的7个州之一--印地安那州，这个比例只有16%。难道我们还要因为有那么多纽约人受过大学教育而哀叹吗?