The American public gets it, even if successive US administrations have not. There are over 12m families who get it particularly well: they are those who owe more on their mortgage than their homes are worth. They know we have been running on empty for years. Now President Barack Obama has officially withdrawn from the current round of budget talks, reducing hopes of a deal on the debt ceiling, a new era of American austerity is the only way to begin to put things right.
美國民衆心知肚明,儘管一屆又一屆的美國政府都沒搞明白。而有1200多萬戶家庭更是看得透徹:這些家庭所欠的抵押貸款已經超過了他們住房的價值。他們知道,我們已經坐喫山空好多年了。現在,巴拉克•歐巴馬總統(Barack Obama)又在預算談判中途憤然離席,就債務上限達成協議的希望就變得更加渺茫。唯今之計,美國要使事情走上正軌,只能步入一個全新的緊縮時代。