(单词翻译:单击)
Hello, I’m Craig and this is Crash Course Government and Politics
大家好，我是克雷格，这里是政府与政治速成班。
and today we’re going to talk about social policy.
今天我们来谈谈社会政策。
I have a lot of social policies, which include not staying out past 3am on weeknights, and avoiding social gatherings where velveeta sausage cheese dip is served.
我有很多社交政策，包括工作日晚上不要超过凌晨3点还呆在外面，避免参加提供velveeta香肠芝士蘸酱的社交聚会。
Both of these are pretty loosely enforced, though.
不过，执行都相当松散。
Actually, we’re talking about government social policy, which deals with things like social security, education, and healthcare.
实际上，我们谈论的是政府的社会政策，涉及社会保障、教育和医疗保健。
And hopefully velveeta sausage cheese dip. But… probably not.
还有velveeta香肠芝士酱。但是……大概没有。
In talking about policy, it’s really hard to separate social policy or foreign policy from economic policy, primarily because they’re all paid for with money.
在谈论政策时，很难将社会政策或外交政策与经济政策区分开来，主要是因为它们都是用金钱支付的。
One way to distinguish between them is to look at a policy’s goals.
区分它们的一个方法是看政策的目标。
Social policy has a number of goals, none of which is the outright promotion of socialism.
社会政策有许多目标，但没有一个是直接促进社会主义。
Glad that’s out of the way and no one is going to comment on it at all in the comments. Peace on Earth.
很高兴这是一种方式，没有人会在评论中评论它。世界和平。
In America, social policy consists of programs that seek to do at least three things.
在美国，社会政策包括至少要做三件事的计划。
Some social programs protect against risk and insecurity, like from job loss, health problems or disability.
一些社会项目可以防止风险和不安全感，比如失业、健康问题或残疾。
Other social programs seek to promote equal opportunity.
其他社会项目寻求促进机会平等。
Finally, some social programs attempt to assist the poor.
最后，一些社会项目试图帮助穷人。
Of these three goals, there’s general agreement that promoting equal opportunity is a good thing,
在这三个目标中，人们普遍认为促进机会平等是一件好事，
less agreement on whether the government should protect us from risk, and widespread skepticism about helping the poor.
但在政府是否应该保护我们免受风险方面却没有达成共识，人们普遍对帮助穷人持怀疑态度。
Americans traditionally haven’t cared much for social policy, and part of the reason for this has to do with Americans’ strong faith in individualism that is suspicious of government action,
传统上，美国人不太关心社会政策，部分原因与美国人对个人主义的强烈信仰有关，
and generally favors private charity and pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps self-reliance.
这种信仰怀疑政府的行为，通常支持私人慈善事业，自力更生。
I don’t think I’ve ever worn bootstraps, Stan.
我想我从来没穿过靴子，斯坦。
Does that make me a true American?
这能让我成为一个真正的美国人吗?
As you might have guessed, the history of the American government social policy pretty much starts, as most government programs do, with the New Deal.
正如你可能已经猜到的，美国政府社会政策的历史，和大多数政府项目一样，差不多始于新政。
Prior to the 1930s there were some attempts on the state level to protect workers and limit exploitation,
在20世纪30年代之前，在州一级有一些保护工人和限制剥削的尝试，
but often these were struck down by the courts, and the Federal government’s role in protecting people from risk was minimal.
但这些法案往往被法院驳回，联邦政府在保护人们免受风险方面的作用微乎其微。
The government did provide pensions to veterans’ widows,
政府确实为退伍军人的遗孀提供了养老金，
but except for a relatively brief period after the Civil War, the numbers of pension recipients were never very large.
但是，除了内战后相对较短的一段时期外，领取退休金的人数从来就不是很多。
The Great Depression changed the way that Americans came to view their government, and also modified how many of them felt about poverty.
大萧条改变了美国人看待政府的方式，也改变了许多人对贫困的看法。
The suffering caused by the Depression was so great and so widespread that many Americans came to feel that it was part of the government’s job to do something about it.
大萧条造成的痛苦是如此之大，如此之广，以至于许多美国人开始觉得政府有责任为之做些什么。
Private charities, which had been the primary way that Americans had helped the poor before the Depression, could not handle the numbers of needy people.
在大萧条之前，私人慈善机构一直是美国人帮助穷人的主要方式，但它们无法处理贫困人口的数量。
In addition, not all of these people could be considered to have become poor due to their own personal failings.
此外，并不是所有这些人都因为个人的失败而变得贫穷。
The Great Depression helped solidify the idea that people could sometimes be victims of economic forces beyond their control, and that it was the government’s duty to help them.
大萧条巩固了这样一种观念，即人们有时可能成为他们无法控制的经济力量的受害者，政府有责任帮助他们。
Basically, the Great Depression changed people’s question from “if the government should help” to “how should the government help?”
基本上，大萧条把人们的问题从“政府是否应该帮助”变成了“政府应该如何帮助?”
The answer to that question came in the form of the New Deal.
这个问题的答案以新政的形式出现。
You’ve probably heard about the New Deal; it’s a big deal.
你可能听说过新政；这是件大事。
But we’ve only got 12 minutes, so we’re going to focus on two specific programs: Social Security and Aid to Families with Dependent Children, or AFDC.
但是我们只有12分钟的时间，所以我们将把重点放在两个具体的项目上:社会保障和对有需要抚养孩子的家庭的援助，简称AFDC。
And if you judge by public opinion polls -- and who doesn’t -- then Social Security is one of the most successful New Deal programs ever.
如果你从民意调查来判断——谁没有——那么社会保障是有史以来最成功的新政项目之一。
Let’s go to the Thought Bubble.
让我们进入思想泡泡。
Started in 1935, the Social Security Act was a reaction to the fact that many elderly people in the U.S.were poor, largely because they had no work, little savings, and no pensions.
《社会保障法》始于1935年，反映了美国许多老年人之所以贫穷，很大程度上是因为他们没有工作，没有储蓄，也没有养老金。
Social Security provided monthly payments to people over age 65, and while no one was getting rich, it was enough money to prevent people from falling into abject poverty.
社会保障每月为65岁以上的人提供补贴，虽然没有人变得富有，但这些钱足以防止人们陷入赤贫。
A couple of things about Social Security.
关于社保的几点。
First, it’s not a savings program;
首先，这不是一个储蓄计划；
you pay into it when you are working but that money doesn’t go into an account for you to access when you retire.
当你工作的时候，你把钱存入账户，但是当你退休的时候，这些钱不会进入你的账户。
So how does it work?
那么它是怎样运转的？
Well, when you are working and on a payroll, taxes are deducted from your wages and the amount is matched by your employers.
嗯，当你在工作，拿工资的时候，你的工资会被扣税，而且数额和你的雇主相匹配。
The total amount that gets taken out is 7.65% with 6.2% going to Social Security and the other 1.45% going to Medicare, which provides health coverage for older people.
总金额为7.65%，其中6.2%用于社会保障，另外1.45%用于为老年人提供医疗保险的医疗保险。
This money goes into a pot, which is then paid out to people over the age of 65.
这些钱被放入一个罐子里，然后再支付给65岁以上的人。
In other words, today’s workers are paying today’s older Americans.
换句话说，今天的工人正在为今天的美国老年人支付工资。
The benefits are indexed, which means that they go up with inflation.
收益是指数化的，这意味着它们随着通货膨胀而上升。
This program redistributes wealth from younger working people to older retired people.
这个项目将财富从年轻的劳动人口重新分配给老年退休人员。
Because the more you make, the more you pay –
因为你挣得越多，付得也就越多——
at least up to a point because there’s a cap on the amount of your salary that’s subject to the payroll tax –
至少在一定程度上是因为你的工资总额有一个上限，那就是工资税——
Social Security also redistributes wealth from richer people to poorer ones.
社会保障也将财富从富人重新分配给穷人。
In general, Americans are suspicious of programs that redistribute wealth, but Social Security is very popular with both liberals and conservatives.
总的来说，美国人对重新分配财富的计划持怀疑态度，但社会保障在自由派和保守派中都很受欢迎。
Conservatives tend to like it because it is funded by a regressive payroll tax that phases out at higher incomes, rather than a more progressive one that would hit high earners harder.
保守派倾向于喜欢它，因为它是由递减工资税资助的，在高收入人群中逐步取消，而不是更累进的工资税，后者会对高收入者造成更大打击。
Liberals like it because it provides automatic benefits for the elderly.
自由主义者喜欢它，因为它自动为老年人提供福利。
Thanks, Thought Bubble.
谢谢，思想泡泡。
Whether Social Security is in crisis depends a lot on what numbers you look at and whether you believe that there are political solutions to potential problems.
社会保障是否处于危机在很大程度上取决于你看的是什么数字，以及你是否相信存在政治解决潜在问题的办法。
The number of people receiving benefits is rising –
领取福利金的人数在增加，
approximately 50 million Americans receive Social Security and that number is increasing as baby boomers get older – and the number of people paying into it is falling.
大约有5000万美国人领取社会保险，随着婴儿潮一代年龄的增长，领取福利金的人数还在增加，而领取福利金的人数正在下降。
Eventually, if these trends continue, there will come a time when there might not be enough money paid in to Social Security to pay out benefits to those who qualify.
最终，如果这些趋势继续下去，将会有一段时间，可能没有足够的钱支付给社会保障，以支付那些符合条件的人的福利。
This shouldn’t be an issue since Social Security spending is controlled by Congressional legislation, and they can always raise the payroll tax or raise the benefit age above 65.
这应该不是一个问题，因为社会保障支出是由国会立法控制的，他们总是可以提高工资税或提高65岁以上的福利年龄。
Should be easy. Uncontroversial.
应该很容易。没有争议的。
Since older people tend to vote, there’s a strong incentive for Congress to fix any problems and keep the benefits coming.
由于老年人倾向于投票，国会有强烈的动机来解决任何问题，并保持福利。
Also, it would be a national embarrassment for Congress to let it go bankrupt.
此外，让它破产对国会来说将是一个全国性的尴尬。
Medicare, which is also paid for by payroll taxes, is probably in more trouble,
同样由工资税支付的医疗保险可能会遇到更多麻烦，
partly because of the same demographics that are putting pressure on Social Security,
部分原因是同样的人口结构给社会保障带来了压力，
but mainly because of rising medical costs which Medicare can only do so much to control.
但主要是因为医疗成本的上升，而医疗保险只能做这么多来控制。
Medicare is a third party payer for its medical benefits, it doesn’t actually provide doctors or medicine or stuff that makes people healthy.
医疗保险是医疗福利的第三方支付方，它实际上并不提供医生、药物或使人健康的东西。
Since it does cover more than 45 million Americans, Medicare has some leverage over costs, but, at least until recently, those costs have been rising rapdily.
由于医疗保险覆盖了4500多万美国人，它对成本有一定的影响力，但至少直到最近，这些成本一直在迅速上升。
Social Security is generally popular, but I’ll tell you what was unpopular: Aid to Families with Dependent Children.
社会保障制度普遍受欢迎，但我要告诉你什么是不受欢迎的:援助有子女需要抚养的家庭。
In fact, it was so unpopular that we don’t even have it anymore!
事实上，它是如此不受欢迎，我们甚至没有了!
Like imagine this eagle as the AFDC (punches eagle)...metaphor.
就像把这只鹰想象成AFDC(猛击鹰)…隐喻。
AFDC is what Americans tend to think of when we talk about “welfare.”
当我们谈论“福利”时，美国人往往会想到AFDC。
It was a system that paid benefits to women with children and the amount of the payments went up or down depending on how many children you had.
这是一个向有孩子的妇女支付福利金的体系，福利金的多少取决于你有多少孩子。
AFDC was what is called a non-contributory program, which means what it sounds like:
AFDC是一个被称为非捐助的项目，意思是它听起来像：
you didn’t need to have contributed through taxes to be eligible or to receive benefits.
你不需要通过纳税来获得资格或福利。
There are still some non-contributory social welfare programs, most notably free school lunches, federal housing assistance programs, and supplemental nutrition assistance program, also known as SNAP or food stamps.
目前仍有一些不需要缴费的社会福利项目，最著名的有免费学校午餐、联邦住房援助项目和补充营养援助项目，也就是SNAP或food stamp。
Another is the successor to AFDC, Temporary Aid to Needy Families, or T.A.N.F. or TANF.
另一个是AFDC的继承者，AFDC是向贫困家庭提供的临时援助，简称T.A.N.F.或TANF。
In the 1980’s, conservatives argued that these AFDC checks created dependency or at the very least an incentive to not work,
在20世纪80年代，保守派认为这些AFDC检查产生了依赖性，或者至少是一种不工作的动机，
and increasing welfare payments were pointed to as a criticism of liberalism in general.
增加福利支出被普遍认为是对自由主义的批评。
But conservatives weren’t able to reform welfare in the 80’s,
但是保守派在80年代无法改革福利制度，
because even though a majority of Americans didn’t like it, passing laws is difficult, especially when Congress is hostile to you.
因为即使大多数美国人不喜欢它，通过法律也是困难的，尤其是当国会对你怀有敌意的时候。
It took a Democratic president, Bill Clinton, to push welfare reform through Congress,
民主党总统比尔•克林顿推动福利改革在国会获得通过。
which in 1996 passed the Personal Responsibility and Opportunity Reconciliation Act, better known as the 1996 Welfare Reform Act.
1996年，国会通过了《个人责任与机会和解法案》，也就是广为人知的《1996年福利改革法案》。
This law got rid of Aid to Families with Dependent Children and replaced it with Temporary Aid to Needy Families,
这部法律取消了对有需要抚养孩子的家庭的援助，代之以对贫困家庭的临时援助，
which emphasized that any aid to needy families was going to be TEMPORARY, by putting that as the first word in its title.
强调任何对贫困家庭的援助都将是临时的，这是它的标题中的第一个词。
There are now work restriction that recipients must meet in order to get benefits, and there are time restrictions.
现在，为了获得福利，受益人必须满足工作限制，而且还有时间限制。
You can only receive benefits for two years in a row and five years total.
你只能连续两年领取福利金，总共五年。
All of this was supposed to encourage people to get off welfare, and as the name of the law tells us, exercise greater personal responsibility.
所有这一切都是为了鼓励人们放弃福利，正如法律的名字告诉我们的那样，行使更大的个人责任。
So did it work? It kind of worked.
那么它起作用了吗?这是可行的。
The number of people receiving welfare did decrease and more people did look for and find work.
领取福利金的人数确实减少了，更多的人找到了工作。
On the other hand, the law didn’t reduce poverty, although to be fair that wasn’t what it was supposed to do -- it was supposed to reduce welfare.
另一方面，法律并没有减少贫困，尽管公平地说，这并不是它应该做的——它应该减少福利。
Also, during economic downturns as in 2001 and 2009, welfare caseloads rose again,
此外，在2001年和2009年的经济衰退期间，福利案件数量再次上升，
suggesting that the work that people did find might not be such a stable solution to relieving poverty.
这表明人们找到的工作可能不是消除贫困的稳定解决方案。
So this episode has focused mainly on the more controversial aspects of social policy,
所以这一集主要关注社会政策中更具争议的方面，
those that involve redistribution of wealth from richer to poor Americans, and I’m sure all of you commenters are fine with that.
那些涉及到从富人到穷人的财富再分配的方面，我相信你们所有的评论者都同意这一点。
Actually, probably not.
实际上，这是不可能的。
For a lot of reasons, some economic, but many cultural, Americans have generally been suspicious of these redistributive programs.
出于很多原因，一些是经济原因，但也有很多是文化原因，美国人一直对这些再分配计划持怀疑态度。
Remember that I said one goal of social policy, one that is not very controversial, is increasing opportunity.
记得我说过社会政策的一个目标，一个不是很有争议的目标，就是增加机会。
And for most of us, the key to increasing opportunity is education.
对我们大多数人来说，增加机会的关键是教育。
Which is what we’re doing right here!
这就是我们正在做的!
Education is one social policy that almost everyone agrees on, under the theory that if everyone is educated they will be able to find good, high paying jobs that will enable them to achieve greater economic stability and mitigate the risks in their own lives without the government having to do it for them.
教育是一种社会政策,几乎每个人都同意,根据理论,如果每个人都接受教育之后,他们将能够找到好的、高薪的工作,这将使他们能够实现更大的经济稳定，通过自己就能降低生活风险无需政府帮忙。
Whether it works or not, and just how much the government should be involved, are questions that you will have to think about and argue over with your friends and families and teachers and teacher’s teachers and teacher’s grandmas and the guy at McDonalds…
不管它是否有效，以及政府应该涉及多少，这些问题都是你必须思考的，你必须和你的朋友、家人、老师、老师的老师、老师的奶奶以及麦当劳的那个家伙争论不休……
maybe the guy standing next to you at the Velveeta sausage cheese dip platter.
也许是你旁边那个在Velveeta香肠芝士蘸酱盘前的家伙。
But it’s important to remember that social policy isn’t just redistribution of wealth or income, it’s also education and programs that help people who really can’t help themselves.
但重要的是要记住，社会政策不仅仅是财富或收入的再分配，它也是教育和帮助那些真的无法帮助自己的人的项目。
Thanks for watching.
感谢收看。
See you next time.
下次见。
Crash Course Government and Politics is produced in association with PBS Digital Studios.
政府与政治速成班是与PBS数字工作室联合制作的。
Support for Crash Course: U.S. Government comes from Voqal.
对美国政府速成课的支持来自Voqal。
Voqal supports nonprofits that use technology and media to advance social equity.
Voqal支持使用技术和媒体促进社会公平的非营利组织。
Learn more about their mission and initiatives at Voqal.org.
更多关于他们的使命和倡议，请访问Voqal.org。
Crash Course was made with the help of all these Velveeta sausage cheese dips.
速成班是在所有这些Velveeta香肠芝士蘸酱的帮助下完成的。
Thanks for watching.
谢谢观看。
