豆知识 2011-11-20&11-26 美国政府破产的故事 (1/3)（在线收听）

 These last few years, I’ve had to get a lot more careful about how I spend my paycheck. Everyone has. Like I’m eating out less often, holding back on expenses I don’t really need, and saving for my kid’s college. I’m getting more responsible, taking control of how I spend. But one thing I can’t control is that every month a big chunk of my paycheck goes off to our government. It’s not the most fun part of my budget, but I believe in paying taxes. Not just because it’s the law, but because it’s how I invest in a better future that I can’t afford to build on my own. You know, that future that we all want, and nearly every candidate promises us: great schools, a healthy environment, clean energy, good jobs. But a funny thing happens to our money on its way to that better future. It seems to disappear. And by the time we get around to investing in that future, all I hear is, “sorry, not this year, we’re broke.” In fact, we’re so broke, they say, that we have no choice but to side backwards, cutting things that made this country great, like schools and the EPA, maybe even social security and Medicare.