由于生产力增长停滞将近二十年，人们又开始议论美国政府的社会保险支出（社会保障体系、医疗保险、医疗补助制度）过于庞大，应该被缩减。
With productivity growth stagnating for almost two decades, it made sense back then to argue that the US government’s social-insurance commitments (Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) were excessive and so had to be scaled back.