During the past week, I have been travelling across America and lugging with me a controversial new book, The Great Deformation, by David Stockman. “Lugging” is particularly apt: this behemoth has 743 pages and weighs several pounds, at least in old-fashioned print. Perhaps that is no surprise: Stockman, a private equity player who served as budget director in the 1980s government of Ronald Reagan, is a distinctly angry man - with a lot to say. Most notably, he believes that the American government has badly lost its way in the past few decades, because crony capitalism has perverted policy-making and upturned free market principles. As a result, the country is now drowning in uncontrollable debt that will eventually bring it down and destroy the credibility of the Federal Reserve.
在过去的一周里，我一直在美国各地旅行，拖着大卫•斯多克曼(David Stockman)所著的充满争议的新书《大变形》(The Great Deformation)。“拖着”一词用得特别精当：这本书有743页厚，重达数磅，至少从传统印刷品来说是一个庞然大物。或许这并不令人意外：斯多克曼显然是一位愤青，有许多话要说。他曾在上世纪80年代担任罗纳德•里根(Ronald Reagan)政府的预算办公室主任，目前是一位私人股本玩家。最值得关注的是，斯多克曼认为，由于裙带资本主义扭曲了政策制定并颠覆了自由市场原则，美国政府在过去几十年严重迷失了方向。结果造成现在美国债务失控，这最终会拖垮美国，并破坏美联储(Fed)的信誉。