Many foreign observers look at the US budget shenanigans with confusion and dismay, wondering how a country that seems to have it all can manage its fiscal affairs so chaotically. The root problem is not just a hugely elevated level of public debt, or a patently unsustainable trajectory for old age entitlements. It is an electorate deeply divided over the direction of government, with differences compounded by changing demographics and sustained sluggish growth. It is hard to escape the notion that today’s budget battles are but a skirmish in a much longer-term war that won’t be settled soon.
許多外國觀察人士帶著困惑而失望的眼神關注著美國的預算鬧劇，他們不明白一個似乎擁有一切資源的國家怎么會將財政事務管理得如此混亂。根本的問題不僅僅在于公共債務水平過高，也不僅僅在于顯然不可持續的老年人福利項目，還在于選民對政府政策方向產生了嚴重分歧，而人口變化和經濟增長持續疲弱又加劇了這種分歧。人們不可避免地認為，今天的預算紛爭只是一場長期戰爭中的一個小規模沖突，這場戰爭不會很快塵埃落定。