America’s economy is certainly in a tender state. But the pessimism of the presidential slanging-match misses something vital. L

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问题     America’s economy is certainly in a tender state. But the pessimism of the presidential slanging-match misses something vital. Led by its inventive private sector, the economy is remaking itself.【F1】Old weaknesses are being remedied and new strengths discovered, with an vitality that has much to teach stagnant Europe and state-oriented Asia.
    America’s sluggishness stems above all from pre-crisis excesses and the misshapen economy they created. Until 2008 growth relied too heavily on consumer spending and house-buying, both of them financed by foreign savings channeled through an undercapitalized financial system. Household debt, already nearly 100% of income in 2000, reached 133% in 2007. Recoveries from debt-driven busts always take years, as households and banks repair their balance-sheets.
    Nonetheless, in the past three years that repair has proceeded fast. America’s houses are now among the world’s most undervalued; 19% below fair value, according to our house-price index.【F2】And because the Treasury and other regulators, unlike their euro-zone counterparts, chose to confront the rot in their financial system quickly, American banks have had to write off debts and raise equity faster than their peers. (Citigroup alone has flushed through some $143 billion of loan losses; no euro-zone bank has set aside more than $30 billion.) American capital ratios are among the world’s highest. And consumers have cut back, too: debts are now 114% of income.
    New strengths have also been found. One is a more dynamic export sector. The weaker dollar helps explain why the trade deficit has shrunk from 6% of GDP in 2006 to about 4% today. But other, more permanent, shifts—especially the growth of a consuming class in emerging markets—augur well. A richer China has become the third-largest market for America’s exports, up 53% since 2007.
    And American exporters are changing. Some of the products—Boeing jets, Microsoft software and Hollywood films—are familiar.【F3】But there is a boom, too, in high-value services (architecture, engineering and finance) and a growing "app economy", nurtured by Facebook, Apple and Google, which employs more than 300,000 people; its games, virtual merchandise and so on sell effortlessly across borders. Constrained by weakness at home and in Europe, even small companies are seeking a toehold in emerging markets. American manufacturers are recapturing some markets once lost to imports, and pioneering new processes such as 3D printing.
    America’s work-out is not finished. Even when the results are more visible, it will leave many problems unsolved.【F4】Because the companies leading the process are so productive, they pay high wages but do not employ many people, thus doing little to reduce unemployment, while aggravating inequality.【F5】Yet this is still a more balanced and sustainable basis for growth than what America had before—and a far better platform for prosperity than unreformed, elderly Europe.
【F1】

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答案以往经济发展中的薄弱环节正在修复,同时新的经济增长点正在显现,这种活力值得经济停滞不前的欧洲及实行计划经济的亚洲借鉴。

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