何谓“中产阶级生活”？

译者 jiangyh

A live able wage for the working classes means:

1.  You can rent a safe and sanitary apartment with heat, light, water, no leaks, functioning appliances, and sufficient space for you and your family.

　　1. 住：有能力租下一处可靠、卫生的公寓，配备有暖气、照明和自来水，房子不会漏水，家具电器齐全，有足够的空间供你和家人居住。

2.  Food, sufficient and healthful, for you and your family prepared in your own home by you.

　　2. 食：家中备有富足、健康的食物，供你和家人享用。

3.  Clothing, modest but sufficient, repaired as needed, sometimes second hand, sometimes from Target or other discounters.

　　3. 衣：衣着可以朴素无华，但数量充足，可根据个人需要适当修剪，有些是二手衣物，有些则是购自塔吉特百货（Target）之类的折扣商店。

4.  Public k-12 education and child care, if needed.

　　4. 育：接受公立中小学（K-12）教育，必要时可获得儿童保育服务。

5.  Able to afford public transportation, if this suffices for employment and to get your kids to school where you live, and a modest vehicle and gas and insurance, if public transportation does not suffice.

　　5. 行：假如公共交通工具足以满足上班和接送孩子的需求，那么应有能力负担公共交通费用；否则，应有能力购买一辆平价汽车，并支付汽油和保险费用。

6.  Median payments into social security.

　　6. 养：有能力缴纳数额中等的社会保险金。

The Hyatt Housekeepers, at $20 an hour could do 1-6 — their replacements at $8.50 an hour cannot.  Ergo – my term of “Hyattization of jobs” for corporate greed where earning a sustainable profit has been replaced by earning maximum profits even if the earning of that maximum profit renders life barren and unbearable for your fellow citizens and your own profit not sustainable.

　　在凯悦国际酒店集团，时薪20美元的女管家可以实现以上6条，而时薪仅8.5美元替班者则不然。因此，我提出“工作的凯悦化”（Hyattization of jobs）这一概念，旨在影射企业的贪婪本性。他们宁愿放弃盈利能力的可持续性，转而追求利润的最大化——这不仅使得其同胞们的生活变得机械空洞而又困顿难熬，也使自身的利益失去可持续增长的可能。

A live able wage does not mean:  Home ownership, a new vehicle, private school educations for your kids, and a fat 401k.

　　工人阶级的合理薪资不包括：自置房产，购买新车，为孩子提供私立学校教育，缴费加入回报优厚的401K养老保险计划。

Middle class lifestyle means;

　　对中产阶级来说，合理的薪资水平意味着——

1-6 above, plus:

　　除了以上6条外，还包括：

1.  Ability to purchase and maintain a home through home ownership

　　1. 有能力购买并维护一套自置住房。

2.  Ability to eat in restaurants as desired, certainly at least once a week;

　　2. 有能力随时前往饭店用餐，每周必定至少一次。

3.  Clothing, often designer or upscale;

　　3. 衣着大多是量身订做和优质高档的。

4.  Can choose between private or public education without relying on scholarships;

　　4. 能够在私立和公立学校教育之间做选择，而不必考虑奖学金问题。

5.  Able to afford a new or used vehicle as one chooses;

　　5. 有能力随心所欲地支付一台全新或二手汽车。

6.  Social security plus a pension or 401k

　　6. 有能力缴费足额的社会保险金和养老保险金。

Once upon a time jobs in retail sales had been sufficient for working class lifestyles, but not middle class; good manufacturing and skilled trade jobs once provided middle class lifestyles as did public employment such as teaching or public works.

　　很久以前，从事销售业者有能力维持工人阶级的生活方式，但无法帮助他们过上中产阶级的生活。曾几何时，只有出色的制造业和专业的贸易工作才能像教师、市政人员等传统公职工作那样，提供中产阶级的生活方式。

Retail employment, domestic employment (maids, housekeeping, yard work, landscaping) never provided a middle class lifestyle unless one worked multiple full time jobs, say, and both parents did so.  

　　对于从事零售业工作或服务业工作（如女佣、家政、庭院清理、景观美化等）的家庭来说，除非一人同时承担多份全职工作，甚至夫妻双方均兼任多份工作，才有可能过上中产阶级的生活方式。

Self employment can yield the middle class lifestyle but often requires years of working 60 or more hours a week to do so.  Examples include restaurant owners, yard work company owners, home improvement businesses, lawyers (yes that is a long hours worked profession),hairdressers, musicians, doctors (another long hours worked profession actually), accountants or book keepers.

　　选择自营职业，你可能有机会体验中产阶级的生活方式，但是这往往需要人们为之工作每周60小时以上，也许很多年都将如此度过。这样的例子有餐厅老板、庭院清理公司老总、家居装饰业经理、律师（没错，这是个工作时间很长的职业）、发型师、音乐家、医生（现实中又一个工作时间很长的职业）、会计师和簿记员。

Was it the “MBA philosophy of maximizing share holder income” attributed to Harvard Business School and others that lead to such greed in corporate leadership, increasing differential in incomes so that CEOs can live like the aristocracy of pre-revolutionary France, and slash and burn profit taking as to render both the working class income and lifestyle and middle class in danger of extinction?

　　当前，企业领导阶层利欲熏心、贪得无厌，总是想方设法地拉大收入差距，使得公司的执行总裁能过上像法国大革命前贵族那般奢靡暴虐的生活，侵吞占有巨额利润而不吐骨头，根本不理会工人阶级和中产阶级的收益和生活方式——这一切是否都该归功于哈佛大学商学院等机构培养出来的“股东收入最大化的MBA哲学观”呢？

One is tempted to quote Louis the XIV who is reported to have said

　　这简直让人不得不援引路易十四曾说过的话——

    After me, the deluge!!!

　　“我死后，哪管它洪水滔天！”