[2013. 2.23] 美国第三十任总统柯立芝VS经济大萧条

Calvin Coolidge, America’s president from 1923 to 1929. Popular historians have been no kinder. Many blame his laissez-faire approach for prompting the Wall Street crash of 1929.

说话刻薄的艾丽斯 罗斯福 朗沃思曾形容1923年至1929年间任美国总统的柯立芝“是用盐水断的奶(形容他性格内向、沉默寡言）”。大众史学家对他的态度也没有好到哪去。许多人责怪他的自由放任政策，称这种做法导致了1929年的华尔街股市大崩盘。

Implicit in this view is the presumption that only interventionist central government can help America recover from economic shock. Mr Coolidge’s hallmark was distrust of government. He saw it as an entity that uses “despotic exactions” (taxes) that sap individual initiative and prosperity across the board. American readers who believe intervention to be a good thing are likely to blanch at a controversial new biography of Coolidge by Amity Shlaes, an American columnist and historian of the Depression. However, if they are brave enough to read on they will also discover a presidency of remarkable achievement that has received too little attention. During Coolidge’s tenure American debt fell by one-third, the tax rate by half and unemployment collapsed.

该观点暗含着这样一种推论，即只有实行干涉主义的中央政府才能帮助美国从经济冲击中复苏。柯立芝的特点就是对政府的不信任。他视政府为使用“专横的苛捐杂税（税款）”来削弱个人积极性、破坏国家全面繁荣的实体。这本备具争议的柯立芝传记是美国专栏作家、研究大萧条的历史学家 Amity Shlaes的新作，认为干涉主义是一件好事的美国读者们可能会对这本书避之不及。然而，如果他们足够勇敢来读下去的话，还会发现柯立芝在总统任职期间取得的巨大成就鲜为人知。在他任职期间，美国的债务削减了三分之一、税率减半、失业率大幅降低。

Coolidge learned young about dealing with tough times. He grew up in a farming community with poor access to markets. To save on school fees, he studied law in a free library. As a lawyer and in a series of elected positions in western Massachusetts, he acquired a reputation for speaking rarely but knowing a lot.

柯立芝在年少时期就学习了该如何度过困难时期。他在一个农社长大，这个农社因交通不便，而与外界市场的联系少的可怜。为了减少学费，他在一个对外免费的图书馆自学法律。柯立芝最后成为了一名律师，并在美国马塞诸塞州西部被多次选举在政府担任各种职位——人人都说他“寡言而博学”。

Coolidge learned at first towards the surging progressive movement, which supported state intervention and union involvement in the economy. But his views shifted when he saw what those ideas meant in practice. The railways, for example, were regarded as villainous by many, and were subjected to increasing regulation. Coolidge had seen how the farmers of his childhood suffered from lack of rail access. He regarded rail transport as hugely beneficial, and understood that the railways needed to be free to make a profit in order to expand. Called upon to mediate in a strike of wool workers in Massachusetts, he first sympathised with the strikers who worked under brutal conditions. But this was quickly tempered by a sense that many of those behind them cared more about the