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James

PragerU字幕组
原标题：Big Government, Big Business, Big Problems
首刊日期：2022 年 2 月 15 日

There was the Great Depression (1932-1940) …
大萧条(1932-1940)

The Great Recession (2008-2009) …
大衰退(2008-2009)

And now the Great Consolidation, a historic transfer of wealth and power from the middle class to the already wealthy and well-connected.
还有现在的大合并，财富与权力前所未有地从中产阶级向本已富有和人脉好的人那转移。

Big Government and Big Business are dismantling and reshaping the American economy. It works for them—they are bigger, stronger, and richer than ever—but it doesn’t work for most Americans.
大政府和大企业正在拆解重组美国经济。这对它们很有利，它们比以往更大，更强，更富有，但却不利于绝大部分美国人。

This is especially true for the engine of economic growth—the small business owner.
尤其是对于经济增长的引擎——小企业主。

More than 30 million small businesses account for about half the GDP and jobs in America; the other half of the economy is concentrated in around 20,000 big companies.
超过三亿小企业为美国贡献了大约一半的 GDP 和工作岗位；另一半经济则集中在约两万家大公司中。

Based on that almost equal split of economic value, you might expect that small businesses have the same clout as big businesses.
鉴于这一几乎平分的经济价值，你可能以为小企业的影响力和大企业相当。

Not even close.
差远了。

Big corporations are masters of the political game. They have the money to pay the lobbyists, lawyers, and politicians to get what they need. And, in turn, the government gets what it needs from Big Business—cooperation, compliance, and campaign contributions.
大公司们精通政治游戏。它们有钱付给说客、律师和政客以得到自己需要的。反过来，政府也从大企业得到它所需的——合作、顺从和竞选捐款。

Small businesses are on the sidelines of this game. Your local butcher, baker, and candlestick maker simply don’t have the cash to make big campaign contributions or hire lobbying teams.
小企业在这场游戏里只能靠边站。你当地的肉贩、面包店老板和烛台制造商根本没有钱去做大笔竞选捐款或雇游说团队。

Still, for all these disadvantages, the entrepreneurial spirit that has long defined America has never waned.
尽管有着这些劣势，长期以来定义美国的自由企业精神从未衰微。

Then came Covid—or rather, the government reaction to Covid.
然后新冠病毒，或者说政府对新冠病毒的反应，来了。

"Two weeks to slow the spread" became month after month of lockdowns and ever-shifting restrictions that destroyed hundreds of thousands of small businesses and left millions more hanging on by a thread.
「用两周减缓传播」变成月复一月的封禁和花样不断的限制令，摧毁了成千上万小企业，让无数人命悬一线。

Big firms were deemed "essential" and allowed to stay open, while small businesses were subjected to punishing lockdown orders and forced to close, in part or in full. The hypocrisy presented by this government edict—Big Box open, Mom and Pop not—was obvious for all to see. These decisions were not based on science but on political influence.
大企业被视为「必需的」，允许保持开业，然而小企业则要遭受惩罚性的封禁命令，被迫部分或完全停业。政府命令所展现的虚伪——大卖场开门，夫妻店不行——大家都有目共睹。这些决定并非基于科学，而是政治影响力。

You could take Fido to PetSmart to have his hair groomed and his nails trimmed, but not take yourself to your favorite salon for a pedicure. How does that make sense?
你可以带狗去宠物智能修毛剪指甲，但是你自己却不能去你喜欢的美容院做足部护理。这是什么道理？

Or how about this example:
这个例子又怎么样：

In Los Angeles, the Pineapple Hill Saloon and Grill was forced to close its outdoor dining area—while a movie production hosted a catering tent serving food to its cast and crew in the same parking lot that the restaurant had been forced to abandon.
在洛杉矶，菠萝山酒吧烧烤店被迫关闭其户外晚餐区，而一个电影制作组支起餐宴帐篷为其演员和团队提供餐食，就在同一个停车场，餐厅被迫停用的地方。

The results of this arrangement weren’t hard to predict: spending that couldn't be done at small businesses was shifted to the ones that were open: big businesses.
这种安排的结果不难预料：没办法花到小企业的消费转移到了能够开业的那些：大企业。

In this environment small businesses were “too small to succeed” not because of anything they did but because the government wouldn’t allow them to serve their customers—all their work, money, and hopes and dreams were crushed by government mandate.
在这种情形下小企业「小到不能成」不是因为它们做了什么，而是因为政府不让它们服务顾客——他们全部工作、金钱、希望和梦想都被政府强制令粉碎。

It was the worst of times for the little guy. And the best of times for the Big Guys: Big Business and Big Government.
至暗时期于小人物，黄金时期于大人物：大企业和大政府。

As Big Government flexed its power with lockdowns and spending and the Federal Reserve pumped money into the markets, big businesses and their investors did great. Seven technology companies alone gained more than $3 trillion in value and the wealthiest became even wealthier.
随着大政府以封禁和支出显摆其权力，联储向市场注入大量金钱，大企业和他们的投资者发财了。单是七家科技公司就收获了超过 3 万亿的财富，最富有的人富上加富了。

Now, Big Business isn’t bad in its own right. After all, every big business started as a small one. Big businesses create products and services that add value to our lives. Nobody should begrudge them making millions or even billions in profit—that is, if it is done on merit. It is a big problem, though, when it is done through the government limiting or even shutting down the competition—small business. That’s not free-market capitalism. That’s cronyism.
大企业本身并不是坏事。毕竟，所有大企业都是从小企业开始的。大企业创造产品和服务，为我们的生活增添价值。没有人应该嫉妒它们赚上百万甚至上十亿利润，如果这是来自它们的业绩。大问题在于，如果这是来自政府限制或甚至阻止其竞争对手——小企业。这不是自由市场资本主义。这是裙带主义。

And there’s no evidence that this trend—Big Government and Big Business getting bigger—is going to end anytime soon.
没有证据表明这种趋势——大政府和大企业越来越大——会很快结束。

Who’s going stop it?
谁来阻止它？

Not Big Business. It always benefits from less competition.
不是大企业。它总是受益于少竞争。

Not Big Government. Small business owners are too hard to control. It is much easier to manage a handful of big corporations feeding at the government trough, than millions of entrepreneurs who just want to pursue economic freedom.
不是大政府。控制小企业主太难了。再容易不过的是控制少数政府供养的大公司，而不是无数一心追求经济自由的企业家。

If we are not careful, the Great Consolidation will end with Big Business and Big Government fully in control. That means less choice in products and services, less choice in jobs, less innovation and more barriers to wealth creation.
如果我们不当心，大合并可能最终变成大企业和大政府的完全控制，这意味着产品和服务的选择更少，工作选择更少，创新更少，财富创造的障碍更多。

Big does not equal better. At some point, it usually means worse.
大不等于更好。有时候，它一般意味着更糟。

But we’re not powerless. We have the dollars, and we have the votes.
我们并非无能为力。我们有钞票，我们有选票。

It’s time we use them.
是时候用它们了。

Before we lose them.
在我们失去它们之前。

I’m Carol Roth, author of the The War on Small Business for Prager University.
我是卡罗·劳斯，The War on Small Business 的作者，为 PragerU 制作。