What if Gene Sperling, director of the White House’s national economic council, declared that a manufacturing renaissance would be strongly in America’s interest? Imagine he added that the US’s manufacturing decline was an aberration that should be reversed. Suppose he came close to breaking a real taboo by saying industrial policy may now make sense. Since Mr Sperling is President Barack Obama’s chief economic adviser – and thus speaking on his behalf – people would take notice, wouldn’t they?
假如美國白宮國家經濟委員會(National Economic Council)主任吉恩?斯珀林(Gene Sperling)宣稱制造業復興完全符合美國的利益,結果將會怎樣?試想他還會聲稱,美國制造業的衰落是一種偏離正常軌道的現象,應該徹底改變這一現象。假設他宣稱工業政策在目前來說或許具有意義——這幾乎相當于打破了一個事實上的禁忌。既然斯珀林是美國總統巴拉克?奧巴馬(Barack Obama)的首席經濟顧問——因而可以充當他的代言人——那么人們應該對他的話予以重視,難道不是嗎?