Why Moscow Mitch needs MMT
Mitch McConnell is desperate to find investment funds and businesses that will create jobs for his Kentucky constituents.
米奇·麦康奈尔迫切希望找到能为肯塔基州选民创造就业机会的投资基金和企业。
America, it seems, is mostly incapable of being a source for either.
美国似乎基本上无力成为其中任何一个的来源。
Such is the diminishment of our impoverished private enterprise system that only foreign companies seem interested in bringing U.S. dollars to America to build the factories that will employ us.
我们贫困的私营企业体系的衰落如此之大，以至于似乎只有外国公司才有兴趣将美元带到美国来建造雇用我们的工厂。
America, for example, has not built an aluminum rolling mill in over forty years.
例如，美国已有四十多年没有建造铝轧机了。
It must be easier (read “more profitable”) just to import the stuff.
仅仅进口这些东西肯定会更容易（读作“更有利可图”）。
If you want to create jobs, though, in exchange for votes from your constituents, “profitability” takes on new dimensions.
然而，如果你想创造就业机会，以换取选民的选票，“盈利能力”就会呈现出新的维度。
And while those additional dimensions don’t seem to appeal much to American enterprise, for some inexplicable reason they are appealing to foreign “investors”—especially ones from Russia.
虽然这些额外的维度似乎对美国企业没有太大吸引力，但出于某种令人费解的原因，它们却吸引了外国“投资者”——尤其是来自俄罗斯的投资者。
Russia, it seems, has discovered a new form of American “politico-capitalism.”
俄罗斯似乎发现了美国“政治资本主义”的新形式。
Basically, I’m guessing it works like this: A Russian Oligarch—here we must digress to be sure it’s understood that a “Russian Oligarch” is a managing agent in the government-mafia amalgamation that comprises the Russian economy— the Oligarch, indirectly, through back-channels, expresses interest in investing in the building of a large manufacturing enterprise in the home state of a U.S. senator.
基本上，我猜它的运作方式是这样的：俄罗斯寡头——在这里我们必须离题，以确保人们理解“俄罗斯寡头”是构成俄罗斯经济的政府与黑手党合并的管理代理人——寡头通过秘密渠道间接表示有兴趣在美国参议员的家乡投资建设一家大型制造企业。
The senator, of course, is keen on the idea because it enables him to claim authorship of a deal that brings thousands of jobs to his struggling constituents (and would-be voters).
当然，这位参议员对这个想法很感兴趣，因为这使他能够声称自己是一项为陷入困境的选民（和潜在选民）带来数千个就业机会的协议的作者。
Other strings are pulled to provide a building site, local property tax breaks, and reduced development fees for the project.
其他条件还包括提供建筑工地、地方财产税减免以及降低该项目的开发费用。
The Oligarch, as promised, comes up with the U.S. dollars necessary to build the project—transferred from an obscure network of international bank accounts holding dollars gleaned from the sale of Russian oil, gas, and military weaponry.
正如所承诺的那样，寡头拿出了建设该项目所需的美元——这些美元是从一个不起眼的国际银行账户网络转来的，这些账户持有从俄罗斯石油、天然气和军事武器销售中收集到的美元。
High-profile ground-breaking ceremonies are held using golden shovels.
高调的奠基仪式是用金铲子举行的。
The manufacturing facility gets built, commences operations, and hires thousands of the senator’s constituents.
制造工厂建成，开始运营，并雇用了数千名参议员选民。
And though the business name contains no hint of it, the Russian Oligarch—hidden in layers of holding companies—is a majority stockholder of the enterprise.
尽管企业名称中没有任何暗示，但隐藏在层层控股公司中的俄罗斯寡头是该企业的多数股东。
Bumps, of course, can occur along the road.
当然，道路上可能会出现颠簸。
It’s possible, for example, that the Russian Oligarch may have been sanctioned by the U.S. government for engaging in economic activities against the interests of the United States—or that are considered illegal under U.S. or international law.
例如，俄罗斯寡头有可能因从事损害美国利益的经济活动或根据美国或国际法被视为非法的经济活动而受到美国政府的制裁。
The sanctions might be such that they bar U.S. businesses or citizens from doing business with the Oligarch.
制裁可能会禁止美国企业或公民与寡头做生意。
If that should happen, the U.S. senator has a dilemma: either enforce the sanctions and give up his juicy deal to provide thousands of jobs for his constituents—or maneuver in the U.S. senate to have the sanctions against the Oligarch repealed.
如果发生这种情况，美国参议员将陷入两难境地：要么执行制裁，放弃为选民提供数千个就业机会的丰厚协议，要么在美国参议院采取行动，废除针对寡头的制裁。
If you happen to be not just any senator, but the U.S. senate majority leader, the second option seems relatively easy to pull off.
如果你碰巧不是普通参议员，而是美国参议院多数党领袖，那么第二种选择似乎相对容易实现。
There are dangers in doing this, however.
然而这样做也存在危险。
It’s possible that some nosey news organization might delve into the connection between the senator’s sanction-lifting maneuvers and the promised investment in the home-state aluminum rolling-mill.
一些爱管闲事的新闻机构可能会深入研究参议员的制裁解除举措与承诺对本州铝轧机的投资之间的联系。
They might even go so far as to suggest that now the senator’s state, and thousands of his constituents, are beholden to the Russian government-mafia for their jobs and economic prosperity—and the senator, himself, is beholden to the Russian government-mafia for some portion of his re-election votes.
他们甚至可能会说，现在参议员所在的州以及他的数千名选民的工作和经济繁荣都归功于俄罗斯政府黑手党，而参议员本人也因部分连任选票而受制于俄罗斯政府黑手党。
It’s easy to see the cost-benefit analysis of this business model from the perspective of the Russian government-mafia.
从俄罗斯政府黑手党的角度，很容易看出这种商业模式的成本效益分析。
They only need a few dozen such deals, strategically targeted, and suddenly they have become franchised “voters” in America’s democracy.
他们只需要几十个这样有战略目标的交易，突然间他们就成为美国民主制度中的特许“选民”。
Which is a position worth having if your long-term goals are to do lots of things the U.S. government would, otherwise, be strongly opposed to.
如果你的长期目标是做很多美国政府强烈反对的事情，那么这个职位就值得拥有。
One could ask, however: Why is it necessary for a U.S. senator to take these risks?
然而，人们可能会问：为什么美国参议员有必要冒这些风险？
Why does he find it necessary, in order to promote new employment in his home state, to sell some part of his political power in America’s democracy to an agent of the Russian government-mafia?
为什么他认为为了促进家乡的新就业，有必要将他在美国民主国家的部分政治权力出售给俄罗斯政府黑手党的代理人？
We must assume the senator is a patriot—his calculation is that he is creating much needed employment for his home-state constituents.
我们必须假设这位参议员是一位爱国者——他的计算是他正在为其家乡州的选民创造急需的就业机会。
He is truly not trying to sell-out America—so what is the desperation that forces him to risk doing exactly that?
他确实不想出卖美国——那么到底是什么绝望迫使他冒着这样做的风险呢？
The desperation, I propose, lies in the fact that it seems virtually impossible to find or create employment for his constituents.
我认为，绝望在于这样一个事实：似乎几乎不可能为他的选民找到或创造就业机会。
American enterprise just doesn’t seem interested.
美国企业似乎并不感兴趣。
The only real interest U.S. profit-making strategists seem to have in his home-state is in selling his constituents opioid drugs to assuage their unemployed despondency and hopelessness.
美国盈利策略师对他的家乡唯一真正感兴趣的似乎是向其选民出售阿片类药物，以缓解他们失业的沮丧和绝望。
Russia seems to be the only alternative.
俄罗斯似乎是唯一的选择。
What the senator can’t seem to fathom is that neither he, nor his state, nor his constituents need the Russian government-mafia at all.
这位参议员似乎无法理解的是，他、他的州和他的选民根本不需要俄罗斯政府黑手党。
There exists a completely American solution to his dilemma.
对于他的困境，有一个完全美国式的解决方案。
The senator will not be happy that the solution (at present) is being promoted by the political party of which he is not a member—but, given his sincere interests in the well-being of his constituents, that shouldn’t be an insurmountable obstacle.
参议员不会因为他不是其成员的政党正在推动解决方案（目前）而感到高兴，但是，考虑到他对选民福祉的真诚兴趣，这不应该是一个不可克服的障碍。
What he wants are jobs for his desperate home-state neighbors, right?
他想要的是为他绝望的家乡邻居提供工作，对吧？
To accomplish that goal, all the senator needs to do is undertake some senate maneuverings in a different direction: in support of a federal program that guarantees a living-wage job for every U.S. citizen who wants to work.
为了实现这一目标，参议员需要做的就是在不同的方向上进行一些参议院的操作：支持一项联邦计划，保证每个想要工作的美国公民都有一份维持生活工资的工作。
This could be augmented by a universal basic income for every citizen as well—just enough to ensure that no one needs slip into desperation.
这也可以通过为每个公民提供普遍的基本收入来增强——足以确保没有人陷入绝望。
With these two programs in place, the senator’s currently unemployed constituents would have the freedom to manage their lives in a direction of hope.
有了这两项计划，参议员目前失业的选民将可以自由地朝着希望的方向管理自己的生活。
Much of the job-guarantee’s new employees could be engaged in providing services to their own local communities, or undertaking the climate-change mitigation and adaptation efforts that private enterprise finds so unprofitable.
就业保障的大部分新员工可以参与为当地社区提供服务，或者承担私营企业认为无利可图的气候变化减缓和适应工作。
Streams and rivers—infilled and poisoned by extraction industries—could be restored.
因采掘业而被填满和污染的溪流和河流可以得到恢复。
Wildlife habitats could be reconstructed.
野生动物栖息地可以重建。
One-on-one learn to read programs could be initiated for every second grader.
可以为每个二年级学生启动一对一的学习阅读计划。
The list of useful things to undertake goes on and on.
要做的有用事情的清单不胜枚举。
One of the most important benefits, however, of this alternative strategy to employ the senator’s constituents would be this: the thug-like mentality and machinations of Russia’s mafia-government would be kept out of America’s democracy.
然而，这种雇用参议员选民的替代策略最重要的好处之一是：俄罗斯黑手党政府的暴徒心态和阴谋将被排除在美国的民主之外。
Moscow Mitch needs to understand there’s no place, and no NEED for it, here.
莫斯科米奇需要明白，这里没有地方，也不需要它。