[ti:The Wealth Effect: Big Spending Draws Attention as Poor Struggle]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.01]Former Pink Floyd musician David Gilmour sold his guitar collection last month for $21.5 million at an auction to raise money for needy organizations.
[00:16.95]The collection included his well-known "Black Strat" Fender Stratocaster.
[00:25.84]It was sold for nearly $4 million to the owner of a U.S. National Football League team.
[00:36.29]The sale set a musical instrument record.
[00:40.98]It came just a few weeks after the company Sotheby's sold "Meules," a painting by Claude Monet,
[00:50.24]for $110 million: a record price for an Impressionist painting.
[00:58.51]And it is not just instruments and paintings that are being bought by rich people around the world.
[01:08.63]The longest U.S. economic expansion in history has brought news of big spending.
[01:16.90]It also has raised concerns about the distance between the rich and everyone else.
[01:24.59]For some people, the high price of some goods is a sign of too much wealth.
[01:32.20]The bank UBS says the number of billionaires in the United States has increased from 267 in 2008 to 607 in 2018.
[01:51.40]"The rich have gotten richer and they've gotten richer faster," said John Mathews.
[01:58.53]He is the head of Private Wealth Management and Ultra High Net Worth at UBS Global Wealth Management.
[02:08.70]But there are signs of problems at lower-income levels.
[02:14.53]Information from the U.S. central bank suggests that, by 2016, the richest 20 percent of Americans held 88 percent of the country's wealth.
[02:30.18]The federal government says that more than 39 million people need to use food assistance programs.
[02:39.38]That is not as many as the high of over 47 million in 2013.
[02:47.34]But still, it is up 40 percent from 2008.
[02:53.68]At the same time, the country's population has only grown about eight percent.
[03:00.95]The U.S. economy has expanded a record-setting 121 months.
[03:08.91]That means the economy has been growing continuously for over ten years.
[03:15.95]And it has been more than 10 years since the financial crisis of 2007-2008.
[03:25.63]At that time, some people worried about the future of the financial system and even of capitalism.
[03:34.83]As a result, the U.S. government moved quickly to calm markets and lower interest rates after the U.S. housing market collapsed.
[03:46.44]But many people are concerned that efforts at that time did little to deal with income and wealth inequality.
[03:56.93]Now some worry that high costs and overspending could lead to another kind of financial crisis.
[04:06.22]The term, the wealth effect, is sometimes used to describe how people spend more freely when they have a lot of money.
[04:17.27]The examples of higher prices or values are big and small.
[04:24.24]The cost of a dinner at the French Laundry, a popular California restaurant, is up 35% to $325 per person.
[04:39.40]The U.S. stock market has gone up more than 200 percent in the last 10 years.
[04:47.76]Investor Ken Griffin set a record in January when he bought a home for $238 million near New York's Central Park.
[05:02.53]The website StreetEasy.com says rents in New York have risen two times faster than pay from 2010-2017.
[05:16.83]This can make it hard for lower-income people to find a place to live.
[05:23.70]U.S. home prices are higher than they were during the financial crisis.
[05:29.71]The group, Coalition for the Homeless, says the number of people sleeping in shelters is 70% higher than it was 10 years ago.
[05:41.88]"The housing opportunity for them is not getting any better," said Carolyn Valli.
[05:49.42]She is CEO at Central Berkshire Habitat For Humanity, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
[05:58.90]The organization builds houses for the poor.
[06:03.36]She said high healthcare costs and a lack of large employers mean fewer jobs in some areas.
[06:13.32]Food and housing costs remain high.
[06:18.03]Some economic policymakers worry that the gains made by low-income people in the last 10 years will be lost.
[06:28.78]Employment, however, remains strong.
[06:32.57]The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the most recent unemployment rate at 3.6 percent for May.
[06:42.06]That is one of the lowest rates of unemployment in U.S. history.
[06:47.80]Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said recently: "Many people who in the past struggled to stay in the workforce are now getting an opportunity."
[07:00.76]He added it was important to keep the economic expansion going.
[07:07.58]I'm Susan Shand. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
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