Another day, another fiscal blueprint. With the August 2 deadline for raising the US debt ceiling days away, Democrats and Republicans continue to talk past each other. New plans are flying thick and fast. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives just passed a bill to “cut, cap, and balance” the budget – a scheme that the Democratic-controlled Senate is certain to reject, as everybody knows. And the so-called Gang of Six senators, three from each party, sprang back to life with another “grand bargain” to cut public borrowing by about $4,000bn over 10 years.
日子一天天过，新的财政蓝图一天天出台。距离美国提高债务上限的截止日期（8月2日）已没有几天，民主党与共和党议员却仍在各说各话。各种新方案满天飞。共和党控制的众议院刚刚通过了一项旨在“削减、限制和平衡”预算的法案——众所周知，民主党主宰的参议院必定会拒绝“放行”。此外，由两党各出三名议员组成的所谓“六人帮”(Gang of Six)再出新招，提出了又一笔“大交易”，以在十年内将公共债务削减约4万亿美元。