Specifically, the question is not whether it can grow, but whether it can grow fast enough to propel a large economy that, according to the US Federal Reserve, faces “balance-sheet deleveraging, credit constraints, and household and business uncertainty about the economic outlook.” And, remember, it is just over a year since certain US officials were proclaiming the economy’s “summer of recovery” – a view underpinned by the erroneous belief that America was reaching “escape velocity.”
美国经济如今就面临着失速风险。具体而言，问题不在于是否增长，而在于增长是否足够快，足以驱动一个面临着“资产负债表去杠杆化、信贷约束以及家庭和企业对经济前景充满狐疑”（美联储语）的大型经济。还有，不要忘了，仅仅是一年前，一些美国官员信誓旦旦地宣称美国经济已经步入了“复苏之夏”，而这一观点还得到了美国正在达到“逃逸速度”的错误信念的支持。