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外刊小白，楞啃经济学人文章，英文都是一个词一个词敲出来的，翻译也都是原创，可能比较烂，甚至有很多错误，重在坚持，不断进步。
也欢迎友友们吐槽和指正。
Schumpeter command and control November 12th 2022
Even with political gridlock, America Inc still has much to fear from the bossy state
熊彼特：命令和控制
即使面对政治僵局，专横州的美国企业依然有很多惧怕
（文章主体966词）
In 1922 Vladimir Lenin, criticized by Communist militants for tolerating a minuscule role for the private sector in Bolshevik Russia, insisted that it was a reasonable trade-off because the state would still control "the commanding heights" of the economy. For much of the rest of the 20th century that phrase came to stand for state meddling—not a complete clampdown on private markets, but preference for a dominant economic role played by the mandarins of the public sector.
1922年列宁因允许布尔什维克俄国存在少量自由市场而被批判，但他坚持认为，这是合理的权衡，因为国家仍能控制经济命脉。在20世纪剩下的时间里，这个词代表的是国家干预——并不是完全取缔自由市场而是选择让国家来扮演主导经济的角色。
militant 激进分子
minuscule 微小的
trade-off 权衡
meddle 干预，干涉
clampdown 严禁，制止，取缔
private market 自由市场
mandarin 普通话，政界要员，内务官员
In the 1980s that changed. For most of the period since then it was market forces, rather than the state, that were in the ascendancy across the West, even when centre-left governments remained in power. But Daniel Yergin, who co-authored a book called "Commanding Heights" in 2002, argues that the concept is back. President Joe Biden's spending bills on infrastructure, semiconductors and the climate seek to use industrial policy to strengthen investment in America and counter geopolitical competition from China. His government has a left-wing regulatory zeal not seen in generations. "The hand of the regulatory state had become stronger," asserts Mr Yergin, who is also vice-chairman of S&P Global, a research firm.
在二十世纪八十年代这一状况发生了改变。自此之后的大部分时间里都是市场主导经济而不是国家，这种情况在西方国家占支配地位，即使是在中左翼当权执政的时期。但制高点一书的共同作者丹尼尔·尤金在2002年却宣称，国家主导经济的观念又回来了。乔·拜登总统在基础设施、半导体和气候问题上颁布支出法案，旨在使用产业政策来增加美国投资和对付来自中国的地缘政治竟争。拜登政府有左翼监管热情，但在代际间不被看见。尤金也是标普全球的副董事，他声称，国家监管之手已经变得越发强大。
ascendancy 支配地位，优势，影响
S&P Global 标普全球
regulatory 监管的
For such reasons, the prospect of gridlock as Republicans appear on track to narrowly regain the House of Representatives in midterm elections on November 8th will probably be salutary for business, even if the Grand Old Party fails to make the sweeping gains in the Senate that some had predicted. If nothing else, it will prevent yet more big spending, potentially reducing upward pressure on inflation and interest rates.
基于这些原因，僵局的前景似乎有益于经济，因为民主党似乎很难在11月8日的中期选举中再次夺回众议院，即使共和党如一些人预测的那样不能获得参议院多数席位。如果没有其他情况发生，这将会阻止更多更大的开支，潜在里会减轻高涨的通胀和利率压力。
gridlock 僵局
salutary 有益的
Grand Old Party 共和党（又称老大党） （Republican Party）
the Senate 参议院
upward 向上的，朝上的，增长的
Yet the election results are not an unalloyed win for America Inc. Although political paralysis in Washington may constrain the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party and the globophobe populists among the Republicans, there is little that centrists can do in the short run to stem the regulatory tide. Moreover, results in state races portray a country split into conflicting ideological camps. Whether in red states like Florida and Texas or blue ones like California, governments are increasingly keen to boss businesses about. Corporations struggle to straddle the chasm.
但选举结果对美国的企业来说并不是稳赢。虽然华盛顿政治瘫痪可能会限制更激进的民主党分子和共和党里的民粹主义分子，但几乎没有中间派能在短期内阻止监管浪潮。另外，州与州之间的竟争结果会使国家陷入分裂状态，即两个有冲突的意识形态阵营。无论是像弗罗里达和德克萨斯这样的共和党州还是加利福尼亚这样的民主党州，各州政府都越来越想干预经济。而企业则艰难地处于这种分裂态势上。
unalloyed 纯粹的
paralysis 麻痹，瘫痪
boss ... about 对 ... 指手画脚
straddle 骑，跨坐，横跨
chasm 裂缝，裂口
Even before the final vote counts roll in, the post-electoral picture for corporate America is already pretty clear on taxes. Republican control of the House would take two immediate concerns off the table. The first is the White House's ambition to push through corporate-tax increases, windfall taxes on oil firms, or both. The second allayed concern is that of a new fiscal splurge. Granted, many consumer-facing firms benefited from the fillip to households that came from Mr Biden's $1.9trn American Rescue Plan in March 2021. Others, such as construction-equipment firms, logistics operators, chipmakers and clean-energy companies, are likely to benefit from the $1.7trn trio of spending bills pushed through by the Biden administration in the past year. With annual inflation running at above 8%, however, more spending, if debt-financed, would be dangerous. It would push up wages and other costs.
即使最终选票尚未公布，全美的选后局面也已经很明晰了，那就是调节税收。共和党控制了众议院后会暂缓两个迫在眉睫的事情。白宫想增加企业所得税，或者对石油企业课以重税，或者二者兼而有之，这是第一件要暂缓的事。第二就是避免大额财政支出。拜登政府在2021年三月份推行了190亿美元的救助计划，确实有很多面向消费者的公司从这项刺激计划中受益。其他公司，比如建筑设备公司、物流管理公司、芯片制造公司和清洁能源公司，都可能从170亿美元的三合一支出法案中受益，而这个法案也是去年拜登政府推行的。然而，年通胀率增长超过8%的情况下，而且如果是用债务支撑，支出越多可能就越危险。因为它会推高工资水平和其他成本。
roll in 纷至沓来，涌现
corporate 公司的，全体的
windfall 意外之财，意外获得的东西
allay 减轻（尤指情绪）
granted adv. 的确，不错；conj. 因为
splurge 挥霍（v.&n.）
fillip 起推动作用的人（或事物）
trio 三合一
Matter are blurrier when it comes to the regulatory state. Even if the right wins control of both chambers, Mr Biden would veto any attempts to arrest his sharp shift to the left on matters like competition policy; the Federal Trade Commission is gearing up for some high-profile cases, including an antitrust trial against Meta, Facebook's corporate parent, expected to begin in December 2023. With control of at least one chamber, the Republicans can make mischief, summoning regulators to Capitol Hill, or turning down agencies' requests for more money. They are cross about some issues that many big businesses also seethe about, such as the attempts by the Securities and Exchange Commission, a financial regulator, to demand finicky emissions disclosures.
在施行经济监管的州里，情况会更模糊。即使右翼掌控了两院，拜登也会支持像竟争政策这样的事情，来中止转向左翼的任何尝试。联邦贸易委员会正在准备处理一些比较受关注的案件，包括对脸书母公司元宇宙的反垄断诉讼，这件案子预期在2023年12月份开庭。共和党至少控制其中一个议院，就能够制造混乱，召集监管者到国会山，或者拒绝政府机构申请更多的预算。他们对一些问题很是恼火，比如金融监管机构美国证监会试图要求关闭过分的股票发行，而这恰恰是很多美国大企业所渴求的。
gear up 为 ... 准备
high-profile 高姿态的，经常出镜的
antitrust 反托拉斯（反垄断）
Capitol Hill 国会山
seethe 煮沸，发怒
Securities and Exchange Commission 美国证券交易委员会
finicky 挑剔的，过分讲究的
In other important ways, though, the party that used to treat corporate America as a bedfellow has started to disown it. Like Democrats, though for different reasons, Republicans want to cut big tech down to size. Just as Donald Trump courted blue-collar voters, some of his most notable acolytes have espoused causes that are anathema to big business, such as higher wages and workers' councils, while turning against laissez-faire favourites like globalisation and immigration. In the end it may be the courts, not the Republicans that prove to be the last bulwark against overweening regulators.
然而，过去把美国大企业当成伙伴的政党，在一些其他重要的途径，已经开始抛弃他们了。虽然出于不同的原因，但共和党人也像民主党人一样，想降低科技巨头的威望。就比如唐纳德·特朗普讨好蓝领选民一样，特朗普那些最有名望的支持者们，已经支持大企业们抵触像高薪和工会这样的事情，同时他们也反对自由资本主义最推崇的全球化和移民浪潮。到最后，可能只有法庭才是监管的最大拥护者，而不是共和党人。
corporate America 美国的各个大企业或大公司
cut ... down to size 降低 ... 的威望
acolyte 侍从，助手
espouse 拥护，支持
anathema 可憎的事物
laissez-faire 自由放任主义 laissez-faire capitalism 自由资本主义
bulwark 保护者
overweening 傲慢的，自负的
Business may have the most difficulty keeping interventionism at bay in the states. With Washington gridlock, states are turning into strongholds of ideological unity and taking matters into their own hands. In the run-up to the elections, only 12 of the 50 states had divided governments, notes Neil Bradley of the US Chamber of Commerce, America Inc's main lobby group. That emboldens them to interfere in what used to be considered internal corporate affairs, from the "wokery" of CEOS to investments, lending policies and the size of share buy-backs. Companies are left in the tricky position of trying to appease both deep-red and deep-blue states at the same time. As Mr Bradley puts it, they are seeing "Texas telling them they have to do one thing and California telling them they have to do the opposite".
企业想将国家干预主义拒之门外恐怕是最难的。因为华盛顿僵局，各州开始寻求意识形态统一和自行处理各州事务。美国企业主要游说集团美国商会的内尔·布拉德利说，在选举进程中，50个州里只有12个州已经分化了政府。这也就使这些州更有勇气干预原本就是州内的企业事务，从首席执行官们的“警醒”到投资、借贷政策、以及股票回购规模。企业们陷入一种难以应付的境地，即他们要同时安抚深红州（共和党占多数州）和深蓝州（民主党占多数州）。正如布拉德利所说，“得克萨斯州告诉他们去做这件事，而加利福尼亚州却告诉他们做与之对立的事”。
keep ... at bay 使 ... 不能靠近
embolden 使 ... 更有勇气
buy-back 回购
Taking the Mickey
One way for businesses to cope is to keep their heads down and their noses out of politics. The consequences of misreading local political moods can be severe. Just ask Disney, whose run-in with Ron DeSantis, Florida's governor, may be all the costlier after his thumping re-election win puts him in pole position to challenge Mr Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Alternatively, firms could lobby the federal government for a single set of rules in areas such as greenery or data privacy, even if these are not all to their liking. That would help clear the state-by-state minefield. It is also fanciful in an era of gridlock. From the commanding heights of Bolshevik heaven, Lenin must be laughing.
令人发笑的境况
对于企业来说，唯一能做的就是保持低调，不要过问政治。误读本地政治氛围，其后果很严重。看看迪士尼就知道了，迪士尼公司与佛罗里达州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯之间的分歧可能使其损失很大，就在罗恩高票当选连任州长后，其呼声高涨，可能会跟特朗普角逐2024年共和党总统候选人提名。或者，企业可以说服联邦政府在一些地区出台一套单独法规，比如支持绿色环保或者数据隐私的地区，即使这些并不都是他们所期望的。但这会帮助公司一个州一个州的解决问题。这在僵局时代也算是别出心裁的。在布尔什维克天堂的制高点上，列宁看到这一幕，一定会发笑。
take the Mickey (out of) 取笑
run-in 争论
lobby 游说
minefield 雷区 |
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发表于 2022-12-12 12:38:46
