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A Solution to Child Poverty
儿童贫困问题如何解决？
By Jeff Madrick
文/杰夫·马德里克
Nearly 1 in 5 American children is officially poor.
据官方统计，美国几乎每5个儿童就有1个是贫困儿童。
That's roughly 15 million kids.
大致相当于全美国有1500万的贫困儿童。
But the number living with a significant deprivation—
然而，生活在严重贫困之下——
insufficient food, seriously overcrowded housing or a lack of access to medical care due to cost—is actually much higher.
食物不足，住房严重拥挤，支付不起医疗费用而得不到医疗服务——的儿童远不止1/5。
According to the latest studies, it's more like 1 in 3.
最近的研究显示，更准确的比例应该是1/3.
Why do we tolerate this?
我们何以会允许事态恶化到如此地步？
America has long been resistant to adequate poverty policies
长期以来，美国一直颇为抵触力度充分的扶贫政策，
because of its strong strain of thinking that the poor are responsible for their own situations, no matter their suffering,
因为这个国家强烈地认为，无论穷人的生活多么艰难，他们的处境都是他们自己一手造成的，
but child poverty is too harmful and punishing to ignore.
但让儿童生活在贫困之下危害太大，也太过苛责，故忽视不得。
I, and a growing number of academics, believe there is a solution:
我，还有越来越多的学者都相信，儿童贫困问题仍有办法解决：
the government should give monthly cash allowances, without conditions, to every family with kids.
政府应当每月无条件地给每个有孩子的家庭发放补贴金，
(Higher-income families would have much of that money taxed away.)
（高收入家庭应为这笔支出缴纳更高的税收。）
Today the official poverty line for a family of four in the U.S. is about $26,200,
当前，美国四口之家的官方贫困线为（年收入）26200美元左右，
but a 2013 Gallup survey found that people think a family of four must earn $58,000 on average just to get by.
但2013年盖洛普(Gallup)的一项调查发现，民众的看法是，一个四口之家平均收入必须达到58000美元才能勉强度日。
My own ideal definition of a useful poverty measure would be this:
我自己对有效贫困标准的理想定义是：
the level below which we know that short- and long-term damage is being done to children.
低于那个标准，我们的孩子就会受到伤害，无论是短期伤害还是长期伤害。
A mountain of evidence now shows that poverty can lead to cognitive and emotional damage in children.
有大量证据表明，贫困有损儿童的认知和情感能力。
Despite policies that have expanded access to insurance,
尽管政府部门已经出台有关政策，普及了贫困儿童获得医疗保险的机会，
poor kids are still less healthy than the rest of the young population.
他们的健康状况仍比不上同龄人的健康状况。
They also drop out of school at higher rates,
相比富裕的同龄人，贫困儿童的辍学率更高，
earn less money over time and are incarcerated far more often than their better-off peers.
久而久之他们赚的钱也更少，被监禁的频率更是远远高于前者。
That should be enough for us to recognize the moral tragedy that is child poverty,
这一点已经足以让我们意识到儿童贫困实则是一出道德悲剧，
but we should note the broad effect too:
但我们仍应留心儿童贫困给整个社会造成的影响：
reputable analyses show that the nation's GDP is up to $1 trillion lower because of child poverty.
有可靠的分析显示，在美国，儿童贫困造成的GDP损失已经高达1万亿美元。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
