美国财政挑战以及对中国的启示

During the time of economic recession and slow recovery, the amount of American federal debt continues to increase and reaches its historical highest point. In face of this tremendous challenge, U. S. policymakers have to make a lot of tough choices, including structural changes in the U. S. federal revenue policies, limiting the growth of entitlement spending, and rebalancing the responsibilities of the federal, state and local governments. Since these choices are not politically easy, it is anticipated that the U. S. government will fail to balance its budget in the near future. This has significant economic and political implications for the global economy and many countries in the world, especially for the China. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the tough fiscal choices faced by the U. S. government and the political economy of the debt problem, examine why obtaining a politically feasible solution has been very difficult, and how China as a major trading partner and the largest debt holder of the U. S., should respond to the problem economically and diplomatically.