你以為好好工作就夠了？

在我們這個國家(美國，美國，美國)，上班其實是一場大家心照不宣的交易。你在一家公司上班，每周工作40個小時以上，公司賺錢了，作為回報，你能拿到一筆報酬，這筆錢能換來一處遮風擋雨的屋檐，能讓你看病，能給你的孩子營造良好的生活，并且，能讓你在為工作奉獻完青春后，晚年生活有足夠的經(jīng)濟條件過得舒適一點。

After World War II, it’s this idea that helped undergird the post-war economic boom, and created our modern idea of what the American Dream really is: Put in your time for a company, and the company gives you the foundation to build a comfortable life. Today, the economy is–by most simple statistical measures–booming. The stock market is soaring. Unemployment is incredibly low. So why does it seem like everyone is having a hard time getting by?

二戰(zhàn)后，正是這樣的思想幫助戰(zhàn)后經(jīng)濟快速恢復，同樣也是這樣的思想，塑造了我們的美國夢：為一家公司奉獻青春，而公司則能為你的舒適生活提供保障。如今，我們的經(jīng)濟在騰飛，股市一片紅，失業(yè)率低到說出去都沒人信。但為什么每個人都看起來過得緊巴巴的?

A recent survey found that nearly half of Americans couldn’t come up with $400 for an emergency. Housing costs in many cities have soared out of reach of all but the extremely wealthy. Childcare has become so expensive that women are choosing to delay or entirely forgo having families, because they simply can’t afford it. People are forced to take to crowdfunding sites, hat in hand, to beg for enough money to pay for their insulin–and die when they don’t win a life-or-death contest of internet virality. The economic boom, it seems, isn’t being shared.

最近一則調(diào)查顯示，有將近一半的美國人都沒法拿出400美金應急。許多城市的房價已經(jīng)漲到普通家庭根本買不起的程度。養(yǎng)育子女的費用同樣很高，許多女性都選擇延遲結(jié)婚，或者干脆不成家，因為根本負擔不起。有的人為了胰島素的藥費，被迫在眾籌網(wǎng)站畢恭畢敬地乞求施舍，如果他們沒有辦法獲得足夠的傳播量，等待他們的只有死亡。經(jīng)濟在發(fā)展，但發(fā)展的紅利似乎并沒有被分享。

There is a simple explanation: As company profits have soared, salaries have remained stagnant. Since the end of the last recession, corporate profits as a share of national income have hit their highest points in the last half-century; employee pay as a share of national income has been at its lowest ebb. CEO pay is rising, stockholders (the richest 10% of Americans own 84% of the stock) are seeing billions in returns in the form of stock buybacks, but the average worker is reaping very little of the reward. Technology has made each worker vastly more productive, but the wealth that extra productivity creates isn’t being shared in the form of increased wages or less time at work.

原因很簡單：公司利潤在上漲，但薪水還在原地踏步。從上一次經(jīng)濟危機到現(xiàn)在，企業(yè)利潤在國民收入中的占比達到了半世紀以來的最高點;而員工工資在國民收入中的占比降到了最低點。CEO的工資在漲，公司股東(美國最富有的前10%，擁有市場上84%的股票)通過股份回購的方式可以獲得數(shù)十億資產(chǎn)，但普通員工的回報少得可憐。科技的發(fā)展使工人的生產(chǎn)力得到了極大提高，但富余生產(chǎn)力創(chuàng)造的財富(剩余價值?)并沒有通過更多的工資或更少的工作時間得到分享。

If you’re working hard every day, but feel like you’re treading water financially, you’re not alone. It’s almost certainly not your fault–and there are ways we can fix it.

如果你每天工作都很努力，但還是得節(jié)衣縮食地過日子，你不是一個人。這也不是你的錯——我們會有辦法解決這些問題的。