米財政危機 世界の混乱回避へ歩み寄れ

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Jul. 29, 2011)
U.S. needs to compromise on debt ceiling talks
米財政危機　世界の混乱回避へ歩み寄れ（7月28日付・読売社説）

Negotiations among U.S. President Barack Obama, members of his Democratic Party in Congress and their Republican Party counterparts over raising the federal government's borrowing limit are facing rough going.
　米国政府の債務上限の引き上げを巡って、オバマ大統領と与野党の協議が難航している。

A compromise is needed to avoid turmoil in the world economy and financial markets.
　世界経済や市場の混乱を回避するために、歩み寄ることが求められよう。

The federal debt, the amount the U.S. government is allowed to borrow, has reached the 14.3 trillion dollars (about 1.12 yen quadrillion) ceiling provided by law.
　米国政府の借金枠である連邦債務は、法律で定められた上限の１４・３兆ドル（約１１１５兆円）に達している。

If the administration fails to win congressional approval to raise this ceiling by the Aug. 2 deadline it will be unable to issue new Treasury bonds, thus running out of fiscal funds.
　政府は８月２日の期限までに、議会から上限引き上げの同意を得ないと、新たに国債を発行できず財政資金が底をつく。

Should this happen, the payment of salaries to civil-service workers and of pension benefits would almost certainly be delayed.
公務員への給与支払いや、年金などの給付が滞る見通しだ。

With the deadline approaching, a sense of caution has arisen, prompting the dollar to be sold in foreign currency markets, and sending the yen soaring to a level of 77 yen to the dollar, a new four-month high.
　時間切れが迫る中、警戒感が高まり、外国為替市場ではドルが売られ、円相場は約４か月ぶりに１ドル＝７７円台まで急騰した。

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Exporters to suffer

The risk of a further decline of the dollar and the accompanying sharp rise of the yen will seriously affect the earnings of Japanese export-oriented businesses, putting a damper on the nation's economic recovery and post-disaster reconstruction.
　ドルリスクに伴う円急騰が日本の輸出企業の収益に打撃を与え、景気回復や震災復興に水を差す。

This situation is extremely worrying.
憂慮すべき事態と言えよう。

The focal points of the fiscal negotiations in the United States are how much the debt ceiling should be raised and how to reduce the record-high federal deficit.
　米国の財政協議の焦点は、債務上限の引き上げ幅と過去最悪に膨らんだ財政赤字の削減である。

The Republican Party has proposed the debt limit be raised by 1 trillion dollars for now, and then raised further later, after methods to cut the deficit are determined by the end of the year.
　野党共和党は、ひとまず上限を１兆ドル引き上げ、年末までに赤字削減策を検討したうえで、上限をさらに引き上げる案を提示した。

The Republicans' proposal could be aimed at putting pressure on the Democrats with an eye on the presidential election in autumn next year.
来年秋の大統領選に向け、揺さぶりをかける狙いだろう。

The Democratic Party's proposal is to raise the ceiling by 2.5 trillion dollars.
　一方、与党の民主党案は、２・５兆ドルの大幅な上限引き上げだ。

The Democrats apparently want to resolve the issue as quickly as possible so it does not rear its head again before the election.
選挙前に問題を再燃させたくないという思惑がうかがえる。

The situation will become extremely serious if the talks collapse.
　事態が緊迫するのは、大詰めの協議が不調に終わった場合だ。

There is a risk of a default by the United States, whereby the administration will become unable to redeem Treasury bonds and the U.S. credit rating probably will be downgraded.
　米国債の償還に必要な資金が賄えない債務不履行（デフォルト）に陥ったり、国債の格付けを引き下げられたりする恐れがある。

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Serious losses feared

The Chinese and Japanese governments, as well as financial institutions around the world, hold a sizable amount of U.S. Treasury bonds.
　中国や日本政府のほか、世界の金融機関が米国債を大量に保有している。

If the credibility of the Treasury bonds declines, the price of the bonds will plunge, causing sizable losses to bondholders and undercutting stock prices around the world.
米国債の信認低下で価格が急落して損失が生じ、世界の株価が軒並み値下がりするような混乱が起きかねない。

The United States is responsible for preventing such a crisis.
　危機を防ぐ責任は米国にある。

We hope the U.S. president will exercise his leadership to realize a hike in the debt ceiling.
大統領が指導力を発揮し、債務上限引き上げを実現することが期待される。

Both parties should refrain from playing political games but look squarely at the harsh reality of the world economy and the markets.
与野党も政治ゲームを過熱させず、世界経済や市場の厳しい現実を直視すべきだ。

Reducing the federal deficit is an important task.
　財政赤字の削減も課題だが、

However, it may be realistic to negotiate separately on such fiscal reconstruction measures as tax hikes.
増税などの抜本的な財政再建策については、切り離して協議することが現実的な選択肢ではないか。

In Europe, Greece has called on the European Union and other entities to extend additional financial support so it can emerge from its fiscal crisis.
　欧州では、財政危機が再燃したギリシャが欧州連合（ＥＵ）などに追加支援を仰いだが、

But the prospects of containing the Greek crisis are uncertain.
危機封じ込めの展望は不透明だ。

The turmoil in the United States and Europe should act as a warning bell for Japan, which is gripped by the worst fiscal deficit among advanced nations.
　先進国で最悪の財政赤字を抱える日本は、欧米の混乱を警鐘と受け止める必要がある。

Japan needs to expedite efforts to put its own fiscal house in order.
日本も財政健全化を急がねばならない。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 28, 2011)
（2011年7月28日01時14分 読売新聞）