And Americans have shifted greatly toward political philosophies – on the right and on the left – that regard public debt merely as a distraction. Or, as former vice president Dick Cheney put it, “Reagan taught us that deficits do not matter” – meaning that Ronald Reagan cut taxes, ran bigger deficits, and did not suffer any adverse political consequences.
而美国人的政治观念有了很大改变，不管是左派还是右派，都把公债问题视为仅仅是个干扰因素。或者用前副总统切尼的话说，“里根教导我们，赤字不是问题”——他指的是罗纳德·里根减了税、增加了赤字，却没有因此承受任何不利的整治后果。