美国有线新闻 CNN 2012-10-18

 I’m Anderson Cooper. Welcome to the podcast. Mitt¹ Romney says study shows his tax plan won’t hurt the middle class, won’t hurt the budget. What about those studies? We’ll take a look at them in Keeping Them Honest, also ridiculous. Let’s get start. 

Ahead of tomorrow’s big presidential debate we are taking a look at Mitt Romney’s tax plan and his claim it will cut rates without ballooning the budget deficit². We are interested in it for two reasons tonight. It was a major subject on the Sunday shows where Romney advisors⁴ continued to defend it and no doubt it will be a big topic tomorrow night. Keeping Them Honest, though, a bipartisan study found the math doesn’t work and other studies which the Romney campaign counters with, well, they’re coming under fire tonight as well. Take a look.

 

Six different studies have said this is entirely⁵ doable. 

 

It’s very questionable⁶, some of them, some of them are blogs, some of them are from the AEI, an independent group. Those are not…

 

I, I, these are very credible⁷ sources, and…

 

One of them is from a guy who is a blog from a guy who was a top advisor³ to George W. Bush. And these are hardly nonpartisan studies. 

 

That was top Romney advisor Ed Gillespie, more on that in a moment, first, though, I just want to begin at the beginning, with what Mr. Romney has been promising⁸. 

 

Under no circumstances will I raise taxes on the Middle class of America. We’re going to keep our taxes down. 

 

What Mitt and I are proposing is a five-point plan. 

 

There will be no tax cut that adds to the deficit but I do want to reduce the burden being paid by middle income Americans, the combination of limiting deductions⁹ and credits and exemptions¹⁰. 

 

You can cut tax rates by 20% and still preserve these important preferences for middle class taxpayers¹¹. It is mathematically possible. 

 

So that’s the promise. Keeping Them Honest, though, neither he nor his running mate Paul Ryan have ever specified¹² which tax deductions they’ll cap, which loopholes they’ll close, or frankly¹³ give out many details at all. Their campaign advisors didn’t either this weekend. Despite that handicap, a bipartisan panel of three authors of the Tax Policy Center examined the plan and concluded that there’s really no way of making the numbers work, that is unless the middle class pays more. Thousands of dollars more per family, according to the authors, the Romney campaign called the study biased¹⁴ and began saying that academic support of its own. Take a look. 

 

The good news is that five different economic studies, including one at Harvard and Princeton, at AEI and a couple at the Wall Street Journal all show that if we bring down our top rates and actually go across the board, bring down rates for everyone in America, you can remain revenue neutral. Now you cite a study. There’s six other studies that looked at the study you described and say it’s completely wrong. 

 

Six different studies have said this is entirely doable. 

 

What gives? If you’re not right about your projections¹⁵?

 

Well, because, first of all, I’ve got Princeton, Harvard, Wall Street Journal and AEI all saying actually that we can bring down the rates. 

 

Six studies have guaranteed, six studies have verified that this math adds up. 

 

Keeping Them Honest, though, not quite. The suggestion is that these are full blown academic studies. Actually, three are blog posts, one is a Wall Street Journal op-ed. In the Wall Street Journal piece, Martin Feldstein, who’s also a campaign advisor, makes the math work but only by using a different definition of middle class than Mr. Romney uses in his own plan. In another study cited by Mr. Romney, Princeton economist¹⁶ Harvey Rosen assumes the tax cuts would generate enough economic growth to offset¹⁷ the cost but for many, that is, that’s a rather large assumption. One it’s also by the way questioned by many conservative economists¹⁸ as well. Bottom line, though, that word assume. Every one of these authors in each of these studies or so-called studies is making assumptions. As some may be solid assumptions, others dubious¹⁹, but they are all just assumptions because neither Mitt Romney nor Paul Ryan nor any of their surrogates have yet come forward with specific. Instead, we asked the Romney campaign if they’d like the opportunity to respond to the program. They declined for us tonight. Of course, the invitation stands.

 

1 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

2 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

3 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

4 advisors   

n.顾问，劝告者( advisor的名词复数 )；（指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• The governors felt that they were being strung along by their advisors. 地方长官感到他们一直在受顾问们的愚弄。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We will consult together with advisors about her education. 我们将一起和专家商议她的教育事宜。 来自互联网

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 questionable   

adj.可疑的，有问题的

参考例句：

• There are still a few questionable points in the case.这个案件还有几个疑点。
• Your argument is based on a set of questionable assumptions.你的论证建立在一套有问题的假设上。

7 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

8 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

9 deductions   

扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演

参考例句：

• Many of the older officers trusted agents sightings more than cryptanalysts'deductions. 许多年纪比较大的军官往往相信特务的发现，而不怎么相信密码分析员的推断。
• You know how you rush at things,jump to conclusions without proper deductions. 你知道你处理问题是多么仓促，毫无合适的演绎就仓促下结论。

10 exemptions   

n.（义务等的）免除( exemption的名词复数 )；免（税）；（收入中的）免税额

参考例句：

• The exemptions for interpretive rules, policy statements, and procedural rules have just been discussed. 有关解释性规则、政策说明和程序规则的免责我们刚刚讨论过。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• A: The regulation outlines specific exemptions for some WPM. 答：该规定概述了某些木质包装材料的特定的例外情形。 来自互联网

11 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

12 specified   

adj.特定的

参考例句：

• The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。

13 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

14 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

15 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

16 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

17 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

18 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。