来源：《华盛顿邮报》
原文刊登日期：2022年4月15日
Inflation remains the biggest threat to the U.S. economy. The data this week only adds to the angst: Consumer prices are rising at the fastest pace since 1981, and producer prices are experiencing the biggest surge since the government started tracking them in 2010. There’s some hope that March was the peak, as gas and used-car prices begin to cool a bit. But inflation is almost certainly going to remain uncomfortably high for months.
通货膨胀仍然是美国经济面临的最大威胁。本周公布的数据只会加剧人们的担忧：消费者价格指数(cpi)正以1981年以来最快的速度上涨，而生产者价格指数(ppi)正经历着政府自2010年开始跟踪该指数以来的最大涨幅。随着汽油和二手车价格开始有所回落，3月份的通胀率有可能是峰值。但通胀几乎肯定会在未来几个月内保持在令人不安的高位。
Then again, many leaders have been claiming it will get better soon for nearly a year. With costs rising faster than wages, inflation is a major reason President Biden’s approval rating is at its lowest point and sentiment about the economy remains gloomy despite a hot job market.
另一方面，在将近一年的时间里，许多领导人一直声称情况会很快好转。由于物价上涨速度快于工资上涨，通货膨胀是拜登总统的支持率处于最低点的主要原因，尽管就业市场火爆，但人们对经济的看法依然悲观。
So pressure is mounting on Mr. Biden to take action. In hindsight, the $1.9 trillion rescue package should have been smaller. He can’t change that now, but he can pick the best options going forward instead of the most politically convenient.
因此，要求拜登采取行动的压力越来越大。事后看来，1.9万亿美元的救助计划本应规模更小。他现在无法改变这一点，但他可以选择未来的最佳选项，而不是政治上最方便的选项。
The best approach is to let the Federal Reserve lead. We have been urging a long-overdue half-point increase in interest rates for months. The Fed finally seems ready to take this decisive step at its May meeting. New York Fed President John C. Williams on Thursday called it a “reasonable option.” But more bold moves will likely be needed later this year.
最好的办法是让美联储来领导。几个月来，我们一直在敦促早就该实施的加息50个基点。美联储似乎终于准备在5月份的会议上采取这一决定性举措。纽约联邦储备银行行长威廉姆斯周四称这是一个“合理的选择”。但今年晚些时候可能需要更大胆的举措。
One smart step that Mr. Biden can take is to increase legal immigration. More than 9 million people are waiting in a massive backlog to have their paperwork processed. President Donald Trump helped create this pileup with his anti-immigration policies, but Mr. Biden’s team should be capable of fixing it. A good start would be to automatically extend the work permits of legal immigrants who already have them so they can keep working.
拜登可以采取的一个明智举措是增加合法移民。超过900万人在大量积压的文件中等待他们的移民申请文件被处理。唐纳德·特朗普总统的反移民政策帮助制造了这一局面，但拜登的团队应该有能力解决它。一个好的开始是自动延长已经拥有工作许可证的合法移民的工作许可证期限，这样他们就可以继续工作。
Mr. Biden’s recent decision to release nearly a third of the oil from the United States’ Strategic Petroleum Reserve was also the right call. Gas prices are down more than 20 cents per gallon in the past month, partly as a result of increased supply. If inflation does remain high through the summer, it’s also worth considering targeted aid to low- and moderate-income families. Gas, food and rent prices are all up alarmingly, and those costs hit poor families the hardest.
拜登最近决定从美国战略石油储备中释放近三分之一的石油，这也是正确的决定。过去一个月，汽油价格每加仑下降了20多美分，部分原因是供应增加。如果通货膨胀确实在整个夏天都居高不下，那么有必要考虑向中低收入家庭提供有针对性的援助。汽油、食品和房租价格都在惊人地上涨，而这些价格对贫困家庭的打击最大。
There are also some bad proposals out there. Democratic accusations that companies are driving inflation by price-gouging don’t pass the logic test, but they have led to calls for price controls on certain essential items, such as energy and food. Price controls would backfire by making those products more scarce because companies would have less incentive to produce them. It is also a terrible idea to waive the federal gas tax, which funds surface transportation projects, and to increase the amount of environmentally damaging ethanol in gasoline. Sorting sound ideas from those that aren’t is a start toward tackling inflation.
还有一些糟糕的提议。民主党人指责企业通过哄抬价格来推动通货膨胀，这一指责并没有通过逻辑检验，但它们已导致对能源和食品等某些必需品实施价格管制的呼声。价格管制会适得其反，因为价格管制后，企业生产这些产品的积极性会降低，从而使这些产品更加稀缺。免除联邦汽油税也是一个糟糕的主意，该税种为地面运输项目提供资金，另一个糟糕主意是增加汽油中对环境有害的乙醇的含量。区分合理的点子与不合理的点子是解决通胀问题的开始。