America can easily afford to do better, of course. Its large budget deficits reflect the impact of tax breaks that favor the wealthy and upper middle class; an unfunded expansion of Medicare coverage to include prescription medicines; two foreign wars; and, most important, a banking system that was allowed to get out of control, inflicting massive disruption on the real economy (and thus on tax revenue).
当然，美国无疑能轻易地做得更好。其庞大的预算赤字反映了下列一系列事件的影响：有利于富人和上层中产阶级的减税；缺乏资金支持的医保覆盖面的扩大（包括处方药在内）；两场海外战争；最重要的是，一个被允许失控的银行系统，对实体经济造成了严重损害（税收收入也因此降低）。