Business Channel 2007-03-29&31

时间：2007-08-02 03:09:45

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（单词翻译）

The United States has sustained 31 consecutive¹ years of trade deficits³. Those deficits have reached successively higher records in each of the past five years. The US trade deficit² has in fact more than doubled since President George W. Bush took office. The U.S. trade deficit has been a drag on our economic growth in 18 of the 24 quarters of George W. Bush's presidency⁴.

Free trade has been the most expensive trade policy this nation has ever pursued. There is absolutely nothing free about ever-larger trade deficits, mounting trade debts and the loss of millions of good-paying American jobs.

Since the beginning of this new century, the United States has lost more than three million manufacturing jobs. Three million more jobs have been lost to cheap overseas labor⁵ markets in the name of outsourcing, as corporate⁶ America campaigns relentlessly⁷ for what it calls "higher productivity", "efficiency," and "competitiveness," all three words have been revealed to mean nothing more than, they are code words, code words for the cheapest possible labor in the world.

I've been called a "table-thumping⁸ protectionist," and the Bush administration has hurled⁹ at me its favorite public epithet¹⁰, at least in terms of economic policy, calling me an "economic isolationist." Nothing could be farther from the truth. I believe, as I hope you and the majority of all members of this Congress believe, irrespective of your political party, in the importance of an international system of trade and finance that is orderly, predictive, well-regulated, mutual¹¹ and fair.

Reciprocity does not in any way connote protectionism. Neutrality does not in any way connote economic isolationism. But both terms when applied¹² to our trade policy require a pragmatism and a commitment to the domestic and national interests of this country in all international agreements. And I believe, as I hope you do, that no international agreement of any kind should ever again be signed by this government without clear, honest understanding of the potentially awesome¹³ impact that such agreements have on the lives of our working men and women, our environment, and the quality of life.

Notes:

1. free trade

Policy in which a government does not discriminate¹⁴ against imports or interfere¹⁵ with exports. A free-trade policy does not necessarily imply that the government abandons all control and taxation¹⁶ of imports and exports, but rather that it refrains from actions specifically designed to hinder international trade, such as tariff¹⁷ barriers, currency restrictions¹⁸, and import quotas¹⁹. The theoretical case for free trade is based on Adam Smith's argument that the division of labour among countries leads to specialization, greater efficiency, and higher aggregate²⁰ production. The way to foster such a division of labour, Smith believed, is to allow nations to make and sell whatever products can compete successfully in an international market.

2. table thumping

Ppl should be very mad when he thumps²¹ the table.

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Business Channel 2007-03-29&31

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