Obama的另类经济学家.doc

Obamas Geek Economist 奥巴马的另类经济学家 Austan Goolsbee is a new breed of economic advisor for a new kind of presidential candidate. 奥斯坦·古思弼（Austan Goolsbee）是新型总统候选人的新型经济顾问。 By Mark Williams 马克·威廉斯 The Fourth of July is just days away, and on the Loops crowded streets and plazas, outside the downtown campus of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, the city swelters（闷热、酷热）. Upstairs, in an air-conditioned office, Austan Goolsbee is recounting how he was transformed from an economics professor into the senior economic advisor to a candidate for the presidency of the United States. 还有几天就是七月四日美国国庆，芝加哥大学商学院（the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business）市区校园外的“卢普”区（The Loop，即芝加哥市中心，意为环行道区，因地处高架铁道所围成的矩形环道之内而得名——译注）的街道和广场熙熙攘攘，整个城市闷热难当。在某座大楼上的一间开着空调的办公室里，奥斯坦·古思弼正在讲述他是怎样从一个经济学教授转变成一位美国总统候选人的高级经济顾问的。 Goolsbee must pick （斟词酌句）his words more carefully now, but its no great strain （紧张？）for him to tell a good story. The two men met in 2004, after Barack Obama became the Democratic contender for junior U.S. senator（2004，11月伊利诺伊州联邦参议员） from Illinois （1996-2004年为伊利诺伊州参议员）and the Republicans fielded the perennial candidate Alan Keyes（屡选屡败的“常年候选人”艾伦·凯斯）. Though Keyess Christian Dominionist（基督国教主义） views on government and society have long made him unelectable, the Democrats wanted to ensure that Obama could demolish the oppositions economic platform（经济口号、竞选策略）. So his campaign contacted Goolsbee, whom Obama knew by reputation, from his own years teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago, as an expert on much that was cutting-edge（尖端前沿） in economics. 现在古思弼斟词酌句必须更小心了，不过他并没有过度紧张，还是讲了一个精彩的故事。2004年他跟巴拉克·奥巴马见面，就在奥巴马作成民主党候选人竞选伊利诺伊州联邦参议员（junior U.S. senator）之后。当时共和党派出的是屡选屡败的“常年候选人”艾伦·凯斯（Alan Keyes），尽管凯斯对政府和社会的基督国教主义观点使他长期不能当选，但民主党还是想确保奥巴马能够推翻对手的竞选经济纲领，因此奥巴马的竞选团队联系了古思弼。奥巴马曾在芝加哥大学执教宪法数年，自那时起，他就耳闻古思弼大名，知道他是个对经济学前沿知识知之甚多的专家。 Keyess economic plan was to abolish the income tax and replace it with a national sales tax（消费税？） that exempted all housing, food, and transpo