WEEKLY ADDRESS: Ensuring Our Free Market Works for Everyone (April 16, 2016)

奧巴馬每周電視講話：總統希望所有人都受益于自由市場

Hello, everybody. One of America's greatest strengths is our free market. A thriving private sector is the lifeblood of our economy-it's how we create jobs, expand opportunities, and give everybody a shot at success. It's what has made America the strongest country on Earth.

大家好！美國強大的力量之源就是自由市場。繁榮的私營企業是我們經濟發展的命脈，這樣的基礎讓我們創造就業、增加機遇，讓每個人都有機會獲得成功。這也讓美國成為地球上最強大的國家。

The most essential ingredient in a healthy free market is competition. But right now, too many companies are engaging in behaviors that stifle competition-like blocking new competitors from entering the market or limiting the information and options that give consumers real choice. As a consequence, the rest of us pay higher prices for lower quality products and services. Workers receive lower wages than they otherwise would. Small businesses and entrepreneurs can get squeezed out of the market. And none of that is fair-or good for our economy.

一個健康、自由市場環境中最重要的元素就是競爭。但是現在，太多的公司存在各種扼殺競爭的行為，比如說阻止新的競爭者進入市場，或阻礙信息交流不給用戶提供真正需要的選項。隨之而來的就是，我們付著高價錢，卻享受著低水準的產品和服務。勞動者的工資也比他們應得的少。中小企業和企業主們被擠出市場。這些都是不公平的，對我們的經濟發展也沒有好處。

The deck should not be stacked in favor of the wealthiest individuals and the biggest corporations, against working Americans. That's why my administration is doing everything we can to reverse this trend and promote more competition in the marketplace. In addition to enforcing the rules on the books, I've directed federal agencies to identify anti-competitive behavior in different industries, and find new and specific ways to promote competition.

發展的平臺不能被把持在少數最富有的人以及少數大公司手中，不能損害工薪階層的利益。因此，本屆政府正在盡一切努力，扭轉這一趨勢，促進市場競爭。為鞏固競爭環境，我們要依照法律規范，加強執法，我已經指示聯邦相關機構，甄別各行各業存在的反競爭行為，探索新的可行方式，促進競爭。

One industry that's ripe for change is cable TV. Right now, 99 percent of cable and satellite TV customers rent set-top boxes from their providers. According to one survey, this costs households an average of more than $230 per year. We spend some $20 billion to rent these devices. While we have almost unlimited choice in what we watch on television, from traditional programming to online content, there's next to no competition to build a better, user-friendly product that allows you to easily access all this content in one place. So most consumers just rent whatever the cable company offers. Because we have to. That means companies have little incentive to innovate. As a consequence, we need multiple devices and controllers to access content from different sources. That makes no sense.

其中應該盡快變革的就是有線電視行業。當前，99%的有線衛星電視用戶是從運營商租用機頂盒。根據一項調查顯示，每戶家庭每年的平均租用成本超過230美元。我們每年要花200億來租用這些設備。由于我們通過電視看什么應該是完全不受限制的，從傳統電視節目到在線，但是這個領域幾乎沒有競爭來促生更好的、與用戶更友好的產品，讓我們可以方便的通過一個設備看到所有想看的內容。因此，有線電視運營商那里提供什么設備，大部分的用戶也就租用什么設備。因為我們不得不這么做。也就是說，這些公司之間幾乎沒有任何創新的驅動力。隨之而來的就是，我們需要各種各樣的設備和遙控器，來接入各種來源的內容。這太不合理了。

So my administration has encouraged the FCC to remove the barriers to competition that prevent new players from offering innovative cable box options to consumers.

因此，本屆政府已經在推動FCC取消這些阻礙競爭的障礙，讓新的競爭者可以為用戶提供具有創新意義的有線電視機頂盒。

We know this works. For years, Americans had to rent our telephones from the phone company. This was a while ago, but when the FCC finally unlocked competition for home phones, the marketplace was flooded with all kinds of phone options with new features, and at different price points. Consumers suddenly had many options. And the whole industry moved forward as a result. The same can happen with cable boxes, and in dozens of areas of our economy-all of which can make a difference in your everyday life.

我們知道這樣做是有用的。曾幾何時，美國人民不得不從電話公司租用電話機。這個時期已經過去了，但是當FCC最終開啟家用電話競爭之后，市場上涌入了各種各樣的電話，擁有各種新的功能，各個級別的價格都有。這樣，消費者一下子就有了多種多樣的選擇。整個產業也迅速向前發展。因此，同樣的改變也可以在有線電視機頂盒上發生，包括眾多其它行業也是如此，這些改變將為大家的生活帶來不一樣的變化。

The bottom line is, competition is good for consumers, workers, businesses, and our economy. So I'm going to keep doing everything I can to make sure that our free market works for everyone. Thanks, and have a great weekend.

最重要的就是，競爭對消費者、勞動者、企業以及我們的整個經濟發展都是有利的。因此，我將繼續盡我所能，確保自由市場服務于每一個人。謝謝大家！周末愉快！

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