在美国人们也津津乐道贫富差距(图)

　　Americans may have been distracted by two reports reminding them of a widening gap between the rich and poor.

　　美国民众可能已被有关贫富差距正在加大的两个报告转移了注意力。

　　The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute, two liberal research groups, put out a state-by-state breakdown of Census Bureau data, which found nine states (led by New York) in which the richest 20 percent of households now earn at least 11 times the income of the poorest 20 percent. This indicated a much sharper disparity between the top and bottom than existed two decades ago.

　　两个自由派研究团体——预算与政策优先抉择中心以及经济政策研究所，发布了其对人口统计局数据的各州细目分类分析报告，指出有9个州(以纽约为首)最富有的20%家庭目前的收入至少是最贫穷的20%的11倍。这表明社会上层与底层之间的差距比20年前更为显著。

　　Then the Federal Reserve Bank released its latest survey of consumer finances. It showed that the average net worth of families earning less than $10,000 a year had fallen by ＄ 6,600 over the past three years, while households earning more than $100,000 a year had seen their wealth jump by more than $300,000.

　　然后，联邦储备银行也公布了最新的消费者资金调查报告，指出家庭收入少于每年1万美元的，在过去3年里其平均净资产减少了6600美元，而那些家庭收入超过每年10万美元的却增长了30多万。

　　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%。