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  3. Inflation isn’t new, but price rises can still shock. I recently holidayed in the Hamptons, a tony beach area outside New York,

Inflation isn’t new, but price rises can still shock. I recently holidayed in the Hamptons, a tony beach area outside New York,

admin2022-12-09  81
问题     Inflation isn’t new, but price rises can still shock. I recently holidayed in the Hamptons, a tony beach area outside New York, where I was stunned to pay $800 for a single shopping cart of groceries. Wealthy locals and vacation shoppers notice, but seem not to curb their spending. Everyone else is travelling an hour or more to get groceries outside the resort areas, ordering dry goods from Costco and growing their own produce.
    This story is extreme, but by no means a one-off. To the extent that the wealthy in the US are not yet cutting back on spending, they may be an important and under-explored factor driving the inflation felt by all.
    The top two-fifths of income distribution in the US accounts for 60 per cent of consumer spending, while the bottom two-fifths accounts for a mere 22 per cent, according to 2020 BLS statistics.
    Amazon’s Jeff Bezos can build a half-billion-dollar yacht, and it doesn’t change life for anyone but him. But when the top quintile of Americans as a whole enjoy 80 per cent of the wealth effect from rising stock and home values, I suspect it starts to have a real impact on inflation, and on the overall structure of our economy, which over the course of the past 30 years of real falling interest rates has become highly financialised.
    The US housing market is the best example of the economic and social downsides of extremely financialized growth. Historically, high home prices—which are in part a result of more cash buyers and investors in the market, as well as zoning restrictions and financing trends that favor the rich—mean more people are renting. Rents today are across most of the country.
    The people who tend to rent are those least likely to be able to pay the higher prices. According to 2021 Pew Data, 60 per cent of renters are in the lower quartile of American income. Meanwhile, the Biden White House is doing what it can to buffer inflationary pain for working people. It has been releasing strategic petroleum reserves in a partly successful effort to lower prices at the pump, extending pandemic-era caps on some student loan payments and pushing for antitrust action in areas where corporate concentration may be responsible for some inflationary pressure.
    But more changes are needed. The success of corporate lobbyists in overturning efforts to roll back carried interest loopholes are shameful. Student debt forgiveness—no matter how generous it is—will not change the fact that the cost of four years of private university in the US is nearly double the median family income. Housing markets continue to cry out for major reform.
What does the author argue in Paragraph 4?
选项 A、Income distribution has remained unequal in the US.
B、The rich have a limited influence over others.
C、Income inequality has affected the US economic pattern.
D、America struggles to keep interest rates low.
答案C
解析 观点题。根据题干可定位至第四段。C项对应第四段第二句的I suspect it starts to have a real impact on inflation, and on the overall structure of our economy (我怀疑，这已经开始切实影响通胀和美国经济的整体结构)，该项属于正确概括，故正确。A项对应第三段的The top two-fifths of income distribution in the US accounts for 60 per cent of consumer spending (美国收入分配中最富有的五分之二人121占消费者支出的60％)，选项只是陈述收入分配高的人消费占比过半，并非说明收入分配不平等，该项属于主观臆断，故排除。B项与第四段第一句Amazon’s Jeff Bezos can build a half-billion-dollar yacht, and it doesn’t change life for anyone but him (亚马逊的杰夫.贝索斯可以建造一艘价值5亿美元的游艇，这并不会改变除他自己以外任何人的生活)相关，但选项只是原文的只言片语，而作者的用意体现在第四段第二句的转折词but后，该项属于断章取义，故排除。D项与第四段第二句which over the course of the past 30 years of real falling interest rates has become highly financialized(在过去30年中，实际利率不断下降，美国经济的整体结构已经高度金融化)相悖，低利率并不需要努力维持，该项属于是非混淆，故排除。故本题答案为C项。
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