参考译文：

为了经济安全，罗斯福开始了他的“第二新政”

富兰克林.罗斯福就任总统后头三个月是美国政治历史上最为激动人心的时期之一。罗斯福于1933年3月正式入主白宫，此时的美国正处于危机时期，全国的银行都在关门，经济大萧条已经到了最低点。罗斯福和国会迅速采取行动帮助那些缺少食品和没有钱的美国人，他们推出了一系列经济计划。本周，我们就向你讲述这些法案和政策，其中还包括著名的“二次新政”。

在罗斯福就任总统一年后，美国的经济形势有了很大的改善，这是毫无疑问的。银行开门营业了，越来越多的人有了工作，农民的生产和生活条件有了好转，穷人不再像以前那样处于灾难的境地了。然而，美国经济形势还远未达到完美，上千万工人仍然还没有工作，年轻的大学生毕业后找工作只能凭运气，绝大多数企业主的营利还很微弱，甚至几乎没有。在度过最困难的危机时期后，美国的一些社团开始攻击罗斯福和他所推出的经济计划，保守分子断绝了与罗斯福的关系，他们指责他奉行的是社会主义经济政策。

更为严重的是，罗斯福受到了其党内改革家们的批评，许多受欢迎的领导人以其鲜明的观点而得到大多数美国人的支持。罗斯福看到国家的团结面临崩溃，保守派指责他是社会主义者，而左翼分子则批评他在结束大萧条方面所做的努力太少。他发现，他必须改变路径。罗斯福知道他不可能再次得到保守者的支持，他的政策太过激进。所以，在他第一个总统任期进行到一半的时候，他开始支持一些新的改革，以便能够赢得左翼分子的更多支持。

美国最高法院很容易影响总统的努力。早在1935年，最高法院裁定罗斯福最初的一些经济计划违犯了宪法，并下令终止这些计划。在罗斯福推出的有关提高农民收入和振兴工业的计划中，最高法院的裁决迫使罗斯福推出新的经济计划和深度新的思想。在他首批新的行动中，第一个是支持一项政府加大对供水和电力生产企业控制的计划，第二是为失业者创造就业岗位。第三个是通过一项新的法律迫使那些与联邦政府做生意的企业实行最低工资制度。同时，联邦政府还强行推行一项新的法律，该法律旨在加强对证券交易者和投资公司的监管。与此同时，罗斯福开始攻击国内大企业，他说，在民主社会中，小企业的重要性要而大于大企业，他警告国人说，大企业拥有的权力太大，而且他呼吁采取新措施来扩大企业之间的竞争，以便控制大企业。

这一时期，在罗斯福的支持下，国会通过了两项法案，这两项法律将改变美国工人的生活。第一项法律赋予工会更多的权力，第二项法律则创立了美国工人退休获取退休费的退休制度。罗斯福政府在早先通过的法律中已经体现了对工会的支持，但这部法律被最高法院给否决了。所以在1935年，国会又通过了一部新的《国家劳动关系法》，这部法律创立了一个新的全国性的劳工组织，帮助工人与企业主之间的谈判。这部法律赋予所有工人建立或加入工会的权力，而且还命令企业主必须与能够代表绝大多数工人利益的工会进行谈判。这部新法律第一次赋予工会真正的谈判权利。

这一时期通过的另一项重要的法律是创立全国社会保障制度。这项法律要求每个工人和企业主每个月都要向联邦政府交纳少量的钱，作为交换，当工人退休或失业时，联邦政府向工人支付生活费。这项新法律并不针对所有人，农民、政府雇员和其他一些团体的成员都不包括在社会保险体制之中，同样这项新法律对已经失业的人来说没有什么意义。一旦社会保险体制开始运行，一个人必须先找到工作，之后失业才能从政府那领取到钱。然而，这项全国性的社会保险法律创立的社会保险制度将在美国人的生活中日益重要，最终成为美国人生活的核心部分。

在这一时期，罗斯福还支持国会通过了一些其他的重要法律，这些法律改变了美国经济。《银行法》赋予美国中央银行—美联储一项新的权力，即控制全国货币总量。另一项法律是向富人征税。第三部法律是限制大企业控制地方电力公司的权力。这些新法律公开地向大企业、大银行和大财团挑战。罗斯福否决了那种联邦政府应与大企业合作的想法，相反他还指责大企业毁灭了美国经济，并伤害了工人的利益。他呼吁国会帮助中小企业和普通的美国人。

在这一时期，最重要的变化可能是罗斯福开始愿意接受赤字预算的思想，他开始接受美联储主席马里纳.埃尔克斯(Marriner Eccles)的思想。埃尔克斯认为在经济危机时期，政府有责任多花钱。他说，多花的这些钱用于为更多的人创造就业岗位，这样他们就能够购买更多的商品，而这将促进经济的增长。埃尔克斯认为在经济危机时期，政府超额支出的政策比通过税收多收钱的政策好的多。他说，不断增长的经济将会提高工资和增加税收。

自从罗斯福政府成立伊始，就是超预算支出，但总统和他的顾问们之所以这样做，只是为了能够结束经济危机，他们认为预算赤字是无奈之举。但埃尔克斯和其他一些人对罗斯福说，如果政府实行赤字预算，对国家而言并没有什么坏处。英国经济学家约翰.梅纳德.凯恩斯(John Maynard Keynes)发表了一部有影响的著作支持这一观点。因而，罗斯福和他的高级顾问们开始接受了这一新的思想。

罗斯福的这些经济政策就是著名的“新政”，但这一时期他努力所产生的这些变化后来被人称之为“第二次新政”，这包括这一时期所通过的美国历史上最重要的一些法律，如《国家劳动关系法》和《社会保险法》。而且罗斯福愿意接受赤字预算成为此后美国奉行赤字预算所迈出的第一步。联邦政府的赤字在越南战争时期的林德.约翰逊总统时急剧上升，这成为上世纪七十年代美国和世界通货膨胀的一个重要原因。1980年，罗纳德.里根当选总统，他要设法让联邦政府的预算得到控制。然而，在1935年，绝大多数美国人都同意富兰克林.罗斯福的想法，认为预算赤字是战胜严重的经济大萧条所必须的。

简评：

大企业对民主社会来说，的确是一个很大的危害。首先，它危害着经济民主，制约有效的竞争，一旦竞争不充分，那么经济民主就无法得到保障。而经济民主得不到保障，那么社会民主也就无经济基础了。因此，罗斯福反对大企业，通过各种手段制约大企业是非常有道理的，也是正确的。

反观现在的中国，却是大力发展大企业的时代，特别是通过央企兼并重组，使得央企在各个领域都是无可争辩的龙头老大，这必将会严重制约我国民营经济的发展。而如果民营经济得不到应有的发展，那么，我国的经济民主将受到严重的削弱，有可能导致经济的集权制，而这与市场经济是完全背道而驰的。

鉴于此，我建议，国家应该适当制约大企业的再扩张，全力扶持民营经济，大力发展中小企业，提高企业之间的竞争度，激活企业内在的活力。我想这才是经济持续稳定发展的基本。

第二次世界大战爆发原因之六：西方大国奉行绥靖政策是战争爆发的深层诱因

绥靖政策是企图通过局部让步和牺牲其他国家利益，来维护和巩固其既得利益。绥靖的本质是妥协、自欺，结果是纵容了战争。以英国为代表的西方大国从20世纪30年代起，就把绥靖政策奉为处理国际危机的总方针。这主要是因为任何一场新的重新瓜分世界的战争，都意味着它们可能丧失既得殖民地；同时也因为经历过第一次世界大战，担心再一次大战将西方文明的毁灭。因此，它们宁愿放弃部分既得利益，牺牲一些弱小国家，以求得同法西斯国家妥协；同时还希望祸水引向苏联，以避免同法西斯直接交战。推行绥靖政策以英国为最，1931年“9·18”事变后，英美首先纵容日本侵略中国；1937年张伯伦任英国首相后，这一政策得到全面的推行和发展；到1938年出卖捷克斯洛伐克的《慕尼黑协定》出笼，绥靖政策达到了顶点。法国曾试图通过建立区域性集体安全来维护其欧洲大国的地位，但到30年代中后期也逐步将自己绑到了英国绥靖政策上。美国是英法绥靖政策的主要支持者，所推行的“独立主义”外交政策，实际上就是美国式的绥靖政策。直到1939年德国大举进攻波兰，英法仓促对德宣战，才宣告了绥靖政策的失败。1940年5月，德国闪电战袭击西欧，直逼英法，英法军民奋起抵抗，标志着绥靖政策终结了。

Roosevelt Aims for Economic Security With 'Second New Deal' 

Franklin Roosevelt's first three months as president was one of the most exciting periods in American politics. Roosevelt entered the White House in March nineteen thirty-three. The nation was in crisis. Banks across the country had closed their doors. The Great Economic Depression was at its lowest point. Roosevelt and the Congress moved quickly to help people with little food or money. They launched a series of major economic programs. This week in our series, we talk about the laws and policies of President Franklin Roosevelt including those known as the "Second New Deal."

Conditions improved within a year after Roosevelt took office. There was no question about that. Banks were open. More people had jobs. Farmers were doing better. And poor people were not so close to disaster as before. However, conditions were far from perfect. Ten million workers still did not have jobs. Young people leaving school were lucky to find any job at all. And most business owners were only earning small profits, if any at all. After the worst crisis was past, some groups of Americans began to attack Roosevelt and his programs. Conservatives were the first to break with the president. They accused Roosevelt of socialist economic policies.

Much more serious to Roosevelt was criticism from reformers within his own party. A number of popular leaders with strong ideas began to attract support from large numbers of Americans. Roosevelt saw his national unity falling apart. Conservatives were accusing him of socialism. Leftist opponents said he was doing too little to end the depression. He saw that he had to change his path. Roosevelt knew he had little chance to re-gain the support of conservative Americans. His policies were too progressive. So, halfway through his first term as president, he began to support new reforms in an effort to win more support from the left.

The Norris Dam in Tennessee in 1937  1937年田纳西州的诺里斯大坝

The Supreme Court made the president's effort easier. Early in nineteen thirty-five, the court ruled that several of Roosevelt's earlier programs violated the constitution and ordered an end to them. Among them were major programs for farmers and industrial planning. The court's decisions forced Roosevelt to create new programs and try new ideas. One of his first new actions was to support a plan for government controls on companies that supplied water and produced electricity. Another was a measure to give jobs to workers. A third new law forced companies doing business with the federal government to pay workers a minimum wage. And the government also began enforcing a new law to control the actions of stock market traders and investment companies. At the same time, Roosevelt began to attack large companies. He spoke about the importance of small businesses in a democracy. He warned the nation that large companies had too much power. And he called for new actions to increase business competition and control large companies.

Roosevelt supported, and Congress passed, two laws during this period that would change the lives of working Americans for years to come. The first law gave more power to labor unions. The second created a federal system to provide money for workers after they retired. Roosevelt's administration had already supported labor unions in an earlier law. But that law was over-ruled by the Supreme Court. So in nineteen thirty-five, the Congress passed a new law called the National Labor Relations Act. The act created a national labor relations group to help negotiate agreements between workers and business owners. It gave all workers the right to join or form a labor union. And it ordered business owners to negotiate with a union if it represented most of the workers. The new law, for the first time, gave unions real power and negotiating rights.

The other very important law passed during this period created the national social security system. The law forced every worker and business owner to pay a small amount of money each month to the federal government. In exchange, the government paid money to workers who had retired or lost their jobs. The new law did not serve everyone. Farmers, government workers, and a number of other groups were not included in the system. The plan also did nothing to help people who were already unemployed. A person had to have a job after the new system began and then lose it to get money. However, the national social security law established a system that would grow and become a central part of American life.

Roosevelt also supported other new laws during this period that changed the American economy. A banking act gave the nation's central bank -- the Federal Reserve Board -- new power to control the total amount of money in use. Another law increased taxes for rich people. A third law limited the power of major companies to gain control of local electric utility companies. The new laws openly challenged the power of big companies, big banks, and big money. Roosevelt rejected the idea that government should cooperate with major companies. Instead, he accused many of the companies of ruining the economy and hurting the working man. He called on Congress to help small companies and the average American.

Perhaps the most important change during this period was that Roosevelt became willing to accept a federal budget that was not balanced. He began to agree with the ideas of Marriner Eccles, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank. Eccles believed that government had a duty to spend extra money during times of economic crisis. The extra money, he said, would create jobs for more people. They could buy more goods. And this would increase economic growth. Eccles believed that it was good policy for a government to spend more money than it earned through taxes during such periods. He argued that a growing economy would increase wages and bring in more tax money.

Roosevelt's administration had spent more money than it earned ever since it took office. But the president and his advisers did so only to end the economic crisis. They believed that it was a necessary evil. But Eccles and others told Roosevelt that it was not bad for the nation if the government spent more than it earned. The British economist John Maynard Keynes published an influential book that supported the same policy. And Roosevelt and his top advisers began to accept the new idea.

Roosevelt's economic policies were known as the "New Deal." But the many changes he made during this period became known as the "Second New Deal." They included some of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the country, such as the National Labor Relations Act and the Social Security law. And Roosevelt's willingness to accept an unbalanced budget would be the first step toward federal budget deficits that would grow steadily in the years to come. Budget deficits would jump under President Lyndon Johnson during the war in Vietnam. They would be an important cause of economic inflation in the United States and the world in the nineteen-seventies. And Americans would elect Ronald Reagan president in nineteen-eighty partly to try to bring federal spending under control. In nineteen-thirty-five, however, most Americans agreed with Franklin Roosevelt that budget deficits were necessary to fight the serious economic depression.

http://www.21voa.com/path.asp?url=/201104/se-nation-second-new-deal-7apr11.mp3