来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2021年3月29日
本文作者是美国著名联邦参议员伯尼桑德斯，有删减。
The United States cannot prosper and remain a vigorous democracy when so few have so much and so many have so little. While many of my congressional colleagues choose to ignore it, the issue of income and wealth inequality is one of the great moral, economic and political crises that we face – and it must be dealt with.
Here is some of what Congress and the president can do in the very near future.
We must raise the minimum wage from the current starvation wage of $7.25 an hour to a living wage of at least $15 an hour. A job should lift workers out of poverty, not keep them in it.
我们必须将最低工资从目前每小时7.25美元的饥饿工资提高到至少每小时15美元的生活工资。一份工作应该使工人摆脱贫困，而不是让他们继续在贫困线挣扎。
We need to make it easier, not harder, for workers to join unions. The massive increase in wealth and income inequality can be directly linked to the decline in union membership in America.
我们需要让工人加入工会变得更容易，而不是更难。财富和收入不平等的大幅增加与美国工会会员的减少直接相关。
We need to create millions of good-paying jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure – our roads, bridges, wastewater plants, dams, schools and affordable housing.
我们需要创造数以百万计的高薪工作岗位，重建我们摇摇欲坠的基础设施——道路、桥梁、污水处理厂、水坝、学校和经济适用房。
We need to combat climate change by fundamentally transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels towards energy efficiency and renewable energy which will also create millions of good paying jobs.
为了应对气候变化，我们需要从根本上改变我们的能源系统，从化石燃料转向能源效率和可再生能源，这也将创造数百万个高薪就业机会。
We need to do what virtually every other major country does by guaranteeing healthcare to all people as a human right. Passing a Medicare for All program would end the absurdity of us paying twice as much per capita for healthcare as do the people of other countries, while tens of millions of Americans are uninsured or under-insured.
我们需要做几乎所有其他大国都在做的事情，将保障所有人享有医疗保健作为一项人权。通过“全民医保”计划，结束我们人均医疗支出是其他国家两倍，同时数千万美国人没有保险或保额不足的荒谬局面。
We need to make certain that all of our young people, regardless of income, have the right to high quality education – including college. And that means making public colleges and universities tuition free and substantially reducing student debt for working families.
我们需要确保所有的年轻人，无论收入如何，都有权利接受高质量的教育，包括大学教育。这意味着免除公立大学的学费，并大幅减少工薪家庭的学生债务。
And yes. We need to make the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations in America start paying their fair share of taxes.
是的。我们需要让美国最富有的人和最赚钱的公司开始缴纳他们应缴的税款。
Growing income and wealth inequality is not just an economic issue. It touches the very foundation of American democracy. If the very rich become much richer while millions of working people see their standard of living continue to decline, faith in government and our democratic institutions will wither and support for authoritarianism will increase. We cannot let that happen.
收入和财富不平等的加剧不仅仅是一个经济问题。它触及了美国民主的根基。如果非常富有的人变得更加富有，而数百万劳动人民的生活水平继续下降，那么对政府和我们的民主制度的信任就会减弱，对独裁主义的支持就会增加。我们不能让这种情况发生。