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  3. The American dream is that any child can make it from the bottom to the top. That may still be true in politics: the son of a Ke

The American dream is that any child can make it from the bottom to the top. That may still be true in politics: the son of a Ke

admin2019-04-19  14
问题    The American dream is that any child can make it from the bottom to the top. That may still be true in politics: the son of a Kenyan immigrant, raised partly by his grandparents, is now president of the United States. But it is much less true, in economic terms, than most Americans think. Social mobility is less easy in America than in other countries. For example, three-quarters of Danes born in the lowest-earning 20% of the population escape their plight in adulthood. Seven out of ten poor children in supposedly class-ridden Britain achieve the same feat. But fewer than six in ten Americans do so.
   Similarly, with rags-to-riches stories. It is far less common for Americans from the bottom 20% in childhood to move into the top 20% in adulthood than it is in Denmark or in Britain. On the whole, America’s wealthy prosper while the average citizen struggles. The pay workers get has failed to move in line with productivity in the past 30 years. But Americans have yet to realise the extent of this tectonic shift.
   Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prize-winner in economics and a regular critic of liberal capitalism, addresses this issue in his new book, which he wrote in response to the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Indeed, he argues that their slogan, "We are the 99% " , echoes an article entitled, "Of the 1% , by the 1% , for the 1% " , that he wrote in Vanity Fair in May 2011.
   To Mr Stiglitz, this inequality is the result of public policy being captured by an elite who have feathered their own nests at the expense of the rest. They have used their power to distort political debate, pushing through tax cuts to favour the rich and adjusting monetary policy to favour the banks. Many of the new rich are not entrepreneurs but "rent-seekers" , he says, who use monopoly power to boost profits.
   When it comes to solutions to the inequality problem, Mr Stiglitz wants a top income tax rate of "well in excess of" 50% , targeted fiscal stimulus and greater bank regulation. Here, perhaps, he might have been more open about the tradeoffs. Controls on bank leverage, caps on interest rates and greater protection for bankrupts are all likely to reduce bank lending at a time when there already is a credit squeeze. He admits that the 2009 fiscal stimulus was " not as well designed as it could have been" , but blithely hopes that the convoluted American budget-setting process will result in much better stimulus packages in future.
   Whether or not he has the right answers, Mr Stiglitz is surely right to focus on the issue. Across the developed world, the average worker is suffering a squeeze in living standards while bankers and chief executives are still doing very nicely. This dichotomy is bound to have social and political consequences.
The figures noted in the third paragraph indicate______.
选项 A、social inequality
B、liberal criticism
C、economic prize
D、regular slogan
答案A
解析 本题是一道代词指代题型。本题的答案信息来源是第四段首句中的主语“this inequality(这种不平等)”，其中的代词“this”指代的是第三段所涉及的内容。由此推断，第三段中所出现的数字均是用来具体列举“不平等(inequality)”。因此，选项A“social inequality(社会不平等)”应该是本题的正确答案。解答此题时，一定要注意上下段之间所出现的代词，否则就无法迅速而准确地答题。
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