金融危機過後 有錢人更有錢了
Lately everyone from policymakers to fast-food workers have urged Washington to raise the minimum wage. It's a thorny topic that's spawned countless arguments both for and against an increase, but a new study suggesting that only the richest Americans are recovering from the Great Recession should make opponents rethink a minimum wage hike.
最近在美國，上至決策層，下至快餐店員工都在要求華盛頓上調最低工資。這個傷腦筋的話題催生了無數支持和反對的爭論。但一項最新研究顯示，目前只有最富有的美國人從這場經濟大衰退中恢復了過來，這個發現應能讓反對者重新考慮上調最低工資的問題。Income inequality has been a problem for decades, but the gap between the haves and have-nots has worsened in the years following the recession. The rise in home and stock prices may be benefitting the richest Americans, but the poorest are being left behind: From 2009 to 2012, the top 1% incomes grew by 31.4% while the bottom 99% incomes grew a mere 0.4%, according to an updated study by University of California Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty.
收入不均是美國幾十年的頑疾，但在最近這場經濟衰退後，貧富差距進一步拉大。房價和股價上漲可能令最富有的美國人獲益，而最貧困的人被落在了後邊：加州大學伯克利分校（University of California Berkeley）經濟學家伊曼紐爾•塞斯和托馬斯•皮凱蒂進行的一項最新研究顯示，2009年至2012年，收入最高的1%人羣收入增長了31.4%，餘下99%人羣的收入僅增長了微不足道的0.4%。
That means the top 1% took more than one-fifth of the income earned by Americans -- one of the highest levels since 1913 when the modern federal income tax started, the economists note. More than that, the top 1% incomes are close to full recovery while the bottom 99% incomes have barely started to recover.
這兩位經濟學家指出，這意味着收入最高的1%人羣拿走了所有美國人收入總額的1/5以上，達到1913年現代聯邦所得稅開徵以來的最高水平之一。不僅如此，收入最高1%人羣的收入已接近全面恢復，而剩下99%人羣的收入基本上剛剛開始恢復。
Raising the minimum wage won't close the gap, but it could certainly ease it. Sadly proposals haven't gone anywhere and face stiff opposition. Last month, fast-food workers staged a one-day strike in 60 U.S. cities to demand a minimum wage of $15 an hour, more than double the current minimum of $7.25 and more than the $9 an hour President Obama proposed in February during his State of the Union address.
上調最低工資不能彌合這一差距，但肯定會在一定程度上緩解這個問題。遺憾的是，上調最低工資的提案目前沒有取得任何進展，阻力不小。上個月，美國快餐業工人在全美60個城市罷工一天，要求將最低工資提高到每小時15美元。這將是當前最低工資每小時7.25美元的兩倍還多，也高於奧巴馬總統今年2月在國情諮文中提議的每小時9美元。These aren't just workers looking for a raise (aren't we all), but symptoms of bigger income disparity problems. It's easy to argue against raising the minimum wage: that an increase would make hiring more expensive for companies; that it would actually raise the unemployment rate, since higher wages would encourage more people to apply for jobs; that it wouldn't help the broader economy because only a few workers actually earned the minimum wage.
這不只是工人希望上調工資（我們所有人都想上調，不是嗎？）的問題，同時也是收入分化加劇症狀的表現。不難想到反對上調最低工資的理由：上調將使得公司的用人成本上升；事實上提高失業率，因爲高工資將鼓勵更多的人求職；它不會對更宏觀層面的經濟起到什麼作用，因爲拿最低工資的人並不多。That may or may not be so, but the White House has said raising the minimum wage to $9 would boost wages for about 15 million low-income workers. This of course wouldn't equal to gains the top 1% of earners have enjoyed recently from the stock market and home prices, but as the White House has said, a $1.75 increase in the minimum wage would be enough to offset roughly 10% to 20% of the increase in income inequality since 1980.
這些說法也許有道理，也許沒道理，但白宮已表示，將最低工資提高到9美元將增加約1,500萬低收入工人的工資。這當然比不上收入最高1%人羣最近在股市和房市中取得的收益，但正如白宮所講，將最低工資上調1.75美元足以彌補自1980年以來新增收入差距的10-20%。That won't close the gap between rich and poor, but it would at least help the very poor play catch-up.
這點錢彌合不了貧富差距，但至少能幫助最貧困的人稍許趕上些。
