The Twin Evils: Unaffordability and Corruption
In these last weeks before the midterms, Democratic candidates have been gaining ground by talking about two things: the affordability crisis and political corruption.
在中期选举前的最后几周，民主党候选人通过谈论两件事赢得了支持：负担能力危机和政治腐败。
If Democrats regain control of Congress and genuinely want to respond to affordability, they’ll need to do everything possible to root out the corruption.
如果民主党重新控制国会并真正想要应对负担能力问题，他们将需要尽一切可能根除腐败。
The two are inseparable.
两者密不可分。
In large part, prices are rising faster than paychecks because so much of the economy has become subject to political bribery, Trump Republican pay-to-play schemes, and kickbacks to Trump and his cronies.
在很大程度上，物价上涨速度快于工资上涨速度，因为经济的很大一部分已经受到政治贿赂、特朗普共和党付费计划以及特朗普及其亲信的回扣的影响。
Trump’s war on Iran is causing Americans to spend almost 50 percent more on gas than before the war, on average.
Trump’s war on Iran is causing Americans to spend almost 50 percent more on gas than before the war, on average.
And the diesel fuel needed to transport almost everything else we buy now averages more than $6.00 a gallon, which is also being passed on to consumers.
现在，运输我们购买的几乎所有其他物品所需的柴油平均价格超过每加仑 6.00 美元，这也转嫁给了消费者。
These price increases due to Trump’s war tell only half the story.
These price increases due to Trump’s war tell only half the story.
The other half is the political corruption at the root of the war — enriching Trump’s friends and family.
另一半是战争根源的政治腐败——让特朗普的朋友和家人致富。
The war has been a huge windfall for Big Tech supplying the military — such as Palantir, a core artificial intelligence and data-integration partner for the U.S. Department of Defense, founded by Trump and JD Vance’s buddy Peter Thiel, and Elon Musk.
这场战争对于为军队提供服务的大型科技公司来说是一笔巨大的意外之财，比如美国国防部的核心人工智能和数据集成合作伙伴 Palantir，由特朗普和 JD 万斯的好友彼得·泰尔 (Peter Thiel) 和埃隆·马斯克 (Elon Musk) 创立。
Musk’s SpaceX reportedly quintupled its connection fees for the Pentagon, from $5,000 per terminal to $25,000 per terminal for terminals integrated into U.S. “kamikaze” (LUCAS) drones deployed in the conflict.
据报道，马斯克的 SpaceX 将五角大楼的连接费提高了五倍，从每个终端 5,000 美元增加到每个终端 25,000 美元，用于部署在冲突中的美国“神风特攻队”（LUCAS）无人机中的终端。
Not incidentally, Musk has quietly funneled more than $275 million to Republican candidates in the midterms, making him by far the largest single donor to either party.
并非偶然，马斯克在中期选举中悄悄向共和党候选人捐赠了超过 2.75 亿美元，使他成为迄今为止两党最大的单一捐助者。
Meanwhile, investment companies backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have accumulated billions in Pentagon contracts and future contract options, according to the government’s official contract reporting.
与此同时，根据政府的官方合同报告，小唐纳德·特朗普和埃里克·特朗普支持的投资公司已经积累了数十亿美元的五角大楼合同和未来合同选项。
(Congressional Democrats continue to demand that the Pentagon’s inspector general investigate the approved deals.)
(Congressional Democrats continue to demand that the Pentagon’s inspector general investigate the approved deals.)
Trump’s tariffs offer another example of higher prices connected to corruption.
特朗普的关税是价格上涨与腐败相关的另一个例子。
The tariffs are import taxes that have increased annual household costs by an estimated $1,100, according to The Budget Lab at Yale.
据耶鲁大学预算实验室称，这些关税是进口税，每年家庭成本增加了约 1,100 美元。
Again, though, the price increases tell only half the story.
不过，价格上涨只说明了一半。
Trump’s tariffs have enabled Trump to give out tariff waivers and carve-outs to industries and companies that do him favors.
Trump’s tariffs have enabled Trump to give out tariff waivers and carve-outs to industries and companies that do him favors.
After Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration and promised major domestic investments, Apple got tariff exemptions for imported smartphones, computers, semiconductors, and flat panel displays, all of which saved Apple huge amounts of money.
苹果首席执行官蒂姆·库克为特朗普就职典礼捐赠100万美元并承诺在国内进行重大投资后，苹果获得了进口智能手机、电脑、半导体和平板显示器的关税豁免，所有这些都为苹果节省了巨额资金。
After Elon Musk sank a quarter of a billion dollars into Trump’s 2024 campaign, Tesla got a tariff exemption for electronics.
在埃隆·马斯克 (Elon Musk) 在特朗普 2024 年竞选活动中投入 25 亿美元后，特斯拉获得了电子产品关税豁免。
Reyes Holdings, a bottler that ranks among the largest privately held companies in the U.S. and is owned by brothers who have donated millions to Republicans, got a tariff exemption for polyethylene terephthalate, used to make plastic bottles.
雷耶斯控股公司是一家装瓶商，是美国最大的私营公司之一，其所有者是向共和党捐赠了数百万美元的兄弟，该公司获得了用于制造塑料瓶的聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯的关税豁免。
And so on.
等等。
A third example linking higher prices to corruption is artificial intelligence.
将高价格与腐败联系起来的第三个例子是人工智能。
Together with the costs of Trump’s war in Iran, AI’s borrowing of over $500 billion so far this year has contributed to sky-high interest rates on mortgages, auto loans, and credit-card overdrafts.
加上特朗普在伊朗的战争造成的损失，AI 今年迄今已借贷超过 5000 亿美元，导致抵押贷款、汽车贷款和信用卡透支的利率极高。
And AI data centers are raising electricity prices in areas where data centers are sucking up energy.
人工智能数据中心正在提高数据中心消耗能源的地区的电价。
As with the war and the tariffs, Trump’s support for AI is tied to political payoffs.
与战争和关税一样，特朗普对人工智能的支持与政治回报息息相关。
Tech companies and their executives donated over $300 million to support Trump’s 2024 reelection efforts and MAGA Inc, the political action committee aligned with Trump.
科技公司及其高管捐赠了超过 3 亿美元，以支持特朗普 2024 年连任努力以及与特朗普结盟的政治行动委员会 MAGA Inc。
(This doesn’t include Musk’s more than a quarter billion dollars in donations to Republicans.)
(This doesn’t include Musk’s more than a quarter billion dollars in donations to Republicans.)
According to a CNBC analysis of FEC records , megadonor contributions from AI, crypto, and online gambling executives have overwhelmingly favored Republicans, with 14 of the 20 largest donor groups nearly exclusively backing GOP candidates or outside groups.
根据 CNBC 对 FEC 记录的分析，来自人工智能、加密货币和在线赌博高管的巨额捐款绝大多数都支持共和党，20 个最大的捐款团体中有 14 个几乎完全支持共和党候选人或外部团体。
To see how Trump’s war, his tariffs, and his support for AI interact on prices, consider housing affordability, which is among voters’ top concerns .
要了解特朗普的战争、他的关税和他对人工智能的支持如何影响价格，请考虑住房负担能力，这是选民最关心的问题之一。
While Trump’s war and encouragement of AI have contributed to the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rising to over 7 percent, Trump’s tariffs have caused the prices of lumber and building materials to soar.
虽然特朗普的战争和对人工智能的鼓励导致平均30年期固定抵押贷款利率上升至7%以上，但特朗普的关税导致木材和建筑材料的价格飙升。
The National Association of Home Builders estimates that tariffs on lumber and building materials have added $10,900 to the cost of constructing a new U.S. single-family home.
全国住宅建筑商协会估计，木材和建筑材料的关税已使美国新建单户住宅的建造成本增加了 10,900 美元。
The price of copper, a key material for electrical wiring in residential and commercial construction, has risen 40 percent in the past year due to Trump’s tariffs and the demands of data centers — adding even more cost to building a typical home, which requires hundreds of pounds of copper.
由于特朗普的关税和数据中心的需求，铜是住宅和商业建筑中电线的关键材料，其价格在过去一年上涨了 40%，这进一步增加了建造普通住宅的成本，因为一般住宅需要数百磅铜。
4.
4.
Trump’s giant tax cut for the rich and the corruption it rests on
Trump’s giant tax cut for the rich and the corruption it rests on
A final illustration of the close connection between rising prices and corruption is Trump’s tax cuts.
物价上涨与腐败之间密切联系的最后一个例证是特朗普的减税政策。
Trump’s megadonors in the 2024 campaign demanded another big tax cut as a condition for their investments, which came in the form of Trump’s “Big Beautiful” (Big Ugly) bill.
特朗普在 2024 年竞选期间的巨额捐助者要求再次大幅减税，作为其投资的条件，这以特朗普的“大美”（大丑）法案的形式出现。
But the tax cuts have come at the expense of healthcare for average Americans.
但减税是以牺牲普通美国人的医疗保健为代价的。
To pay for the tax cuts demanded by their largest donors , Trump and congressional Republicans have slashed Medicaid and failed to renew healthcare tax credits.
为了支付最大捐助者要求的减税费用，特朗普和国会共和党人大幅削减了医疗补助，并且未能更新医疗保健税收抵免。
As a result, millions of Americans are now forced to spend far more for health insurance coverage or do without it altogether.
结果，数以百万计的美国人现在被迫花费更多的钱购买医疗保险，或者完全没有医疗保险。
If Democrats regain control of Congress, they will need to focus not only on alleviating high prices but also on eliminating the causes of those high prices.
如果民主党重新控制国会，他们不仅需要关注缓解高物价，还要关注消除高物价的根源。
It will be impossible to do the former without attacking the latter.
如果不攻击后者，就不可能做到前者。
In addition to ending Trump’s war and his arbitrary tariffs, they must reform campaign financing, and help reduce the influence of big money in politics.
除了结束特朗普的战争和他的任意关税之外，他们还必须改革竞选融资，并帮助减少大笔资金在政治中的影响力。
One method would be to match public financing with small-dollar donations.
一种方法是将公共融资与小额捐款相匹配。
They’ll also need to resurrect the systems of accountability Trump has dismantled —the independent civil service, independent inspectors general, the Office of Government Ethics, and the Federal Election Commission.
他们还需要恢复特朗普废除的问责制度——独立公务员制度、独立监察长、政府道德办公室和联邦选举委员会。
Under Trump and his Republican enablers, the richest Americans and biggest corporations have made out like bandits.
在特朗普和他的共和党支持者的领导下，最富有的美国人和最大的公司像强盗一样过着幸福的生活。
Average working Americans are paying dearly for what the bandits have stolen.
美国普通工薪阶层正在为强盗偷走的东西付出高昂的代价。
The grift and the graft must end.
欺骗和移植必须结束。
Today I’m joining Bernie Sanders, Stacey Abrams, Paul Krugman, Naomi Klein, Mehdi Hasan, Rebecca Solnit and others for “How We Win,” a weekly Guardian newsletter about defeating Trumpism.
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Top Gun--Trump's ego is writing checks his body can't cash.
Top Gun--Trump's ego is writing checks his body can't cash.
He never questions anything he wishes to do because he feels Donnie is always correct in his assumptions.
他从不质疑他想做的任何事情，因为他觉得唐尼的假设总是正确的。
Donald Trump has become an embarrassment to every one in this country.
唐纳德·特朗普已经成为这个国家每个人的耻辱。
That is so very sad.
那真是太悲伤了。
Trump wants SI instead of AI so bad.
特朗普非常想要 SI 而不是 AI。
But SI stands for superior intelligence as well as suicidal ideation, neither of which unfortunately he has.
但 SI 代表着卓越的智力和自杀意念，不幸的是，这两点他都没有。