为拮据的工人提供经济刺激资金，却几乎没有地方可花

为拮据的工人提供经济刺激资金，却几乎没有地方可花

The Trump administration wants to give Americans an emergency shot of spending money, even as it's closing many of the places they would ordinarily spend it.

特朗普政府想要给美国人一个紧急的花钱机会，尽管它关闭了许多他们通常会花钱的地方。

As part of its $1 trillion proposal to address the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, the administration has proposed sending up to $500 billion directly to U.S. households.

作为解决冠状病毒疫情对经济造成的影响的1万亿美元提议的一部分，美国政府提议直接向美国家庭提供高达5000亿美元的资金。

That money would come in two installments: one in the first week of April, the second in mid-May. While details are still being negotiated with Congress, that works out to more than $1.000 per person.

这笔钱将分两批发放:第一批在4月的第一周发放，第二批在5月中旬发放。虽然具体细节仍在与国会协商中，但算下来每人将超过1000美元。

Ordinarily, such checks would be designed to stimulate spending and employment. But that's at odds with recommendations from public health officials that Americans avoid crowds.

通常情况下，此类支票的目的是刺激支出和就业。但这与公共卫生官员的建议相悖，他们建议美国人避开人群。

"This is an usual recession because we don't want people to be working," said Harvard economist Gregory Mankiw. "We do want people to be staying home. We don't want all those restaurants to be bustling."

哈佛大学经济学家曼昆说:“这是一次常见的衰退，因为我们不想让人们工作。”“我们希望人们呆在家里。我们不希望所有这些餐馆都是熙熙攘攘的。”

Mankiw, who served in the George W. Bush administration, says the proposed payments should be viewed more as social insurance than a traditional Keynesian stimulus.

曾在小布什政府任职的曼昆表示，拟议中的支出应该更多地被视为一种社会保险，而不是传统的凯恩斯主义刺激。

"The reason for the cash payments is not only to help the people who need the help but also to encourage them to stay at home, which helps everybody else," Mankiw said.

曼昆说:“发放现金的原因不仅是为了帮助那些需要帮助的人，也是为了鼓励他们待在家里，这对其他人都有好处。”

Bars and restaurants around the country have been closed — except for take-out — and many retail shops have also gone dark, as the government encourages Americans to practice social distancing in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

美国各地的酒吧和餐馆都已关闭，外卖店除外，许多零售商店也关门了，因为政府鼓励美国人保持社交距离，努力减缓冠状病毒的传播。

That's entirely appropriate, said economist Jason Furman, but it will come with a steep price tag.

经济学家贾森·弗曼说，这完全是适当的，但会带来高昂的代价。

"The public health measures are going to hurt the economy quite a lot in the short run, Furman told Weekend Edition Sunday. "Our economic policy, though, should be aiming to cushion the blow as much as possible."

“公共卫生措施将在短期内对经济造成相当大的伤害，”弗曼周日对《周末版》说。“然而，我们的经济政策的目标应该是尽可能地减轻这一打击。”

Furman, who was a top adviser in the Obama administration, says direct payments to Americans are an important part of an economic recovery package.

曾在奥巴马政府担任高级顾问的弗曼说，对美国人的直接支付是经济复苏计划的重要组成部分。

"For some people, that would enable them not to work," Furman said. "So that's not necessarily for them about increasing economic growth. It's about public health. For others, it would let them continue to pay the rent. And for still others, it would put them in a better position to spend after all of this is over."

“对一些人来说，这将使他们无法工作，”弗曼说。“所以这对他们来说不一定是为了增加经济增长。是关于公共卫生的。对其他人来说，这会让他们继续付房租。而对于其他人来说，这将使他们在所有这些都结束后，能够更好地消费。”

The administration's plan would also devote $300 billion to loan guarantees for small businesses, so this temporary disruption doesn't cascade into a permanent shutdown.

政府计划还将拿出3.000亿美元为小企业提供贷款担保，这样暂时的混乱不会导致永久性的关闭。

"There are a lot of businesses that are going to struggle here that we want to survive in the long run," Mankiw said. "So we really need to help the businesses through this time. That doesn't mean a bailout. It doesn't mean handing them cash. But it does perhaps mean providing them with loans so they can keep operating and get back on their feet when this is over."

曼昆说:“有很多企业将在这里挣扎，我们希望长期生存下去。”“所以我们真的需要帮助企业度过这段时间。这并不意味着救助。这并不意味着给他们钱。但这可能意味着向他们提供贷款，让他们能够继续经营，并在危机结束后重新站起来。”

The proposed loan guarantees would go to small businesses that agree to keep paying workers for eight weeks. Coronavirus closings have already triggered a wave of layoffs. A crush of applications for unemployment insurance this week temporarily crashed computer systems in several states.

拟议中的贷款担保将发放给同意向工人支付8周工资的小企业。冠状病毒关闭已经引发了一波裁员潮。本周大量的失业保险申请使得几个州的电脑系统暂时瘫痪。

"The longer it goes on, the more people lose their jobs," Furman said. "And you don't snap back very quickly when you're in a situation like that."

“失业持续的时间越长，失去工作的人就越多，”弗曼说。“在这种情况下，你不会很快恢复过来。”

The administration's rescue package would be even larger than the American Recovery and Reconstruction Act, passed during the Great Recession. Mankiw said that's worthwhile, even though it would add to the mounting federal debt.

美国政府的救助方案将比大萧条时期通过的《美国复苏与重建法案》还要大。曼昆说，这是值得的，尽管这会使联邦债务不断增加。

"In many cases, I am a deficit scold, but not in this circumstance," he said.

他说:“在很多情况下，我是批评赤字的人，但在这种情况下不是。”

"There are certain times that are crises — deep economic downturns, wars --when running a budget deficit and running up the government debt is exactly the right thing to do. And it sounds like in the next few months we're going to be in one of those situations."

“在某些危机时期——深度经济衰退、战争，出现预算赤字和增加政府债务正是我们应该做的事情。听起来在接下来的几个月里，我们将会遇到这样的情况。”