????奧巴馬召開冬季醫療保健峰會的前夜，眾議員保羅?瑞安正在Talay Thai餐廳用餐，這家樸實無華的餐廳用的是金屬椅子和膠合板桌子。在這個嚴寒的冬日晚上，瑞安從他那狹窄的國會山辦公室漫步到Talay餐廳，身上連件外套都沒穿——他說：“我可是威斯康星人！”當天晚上，他將睡在辦公室里的一張簡易小床上——他已經這樣度過了很多夜晚。

????考慮到他一邊啜飲著冰水，一邊感慨美國“正在夢游般走向債務危機”，對這樣一個政治家來說，保持簡樸確實很恰當。瑞安對我說：“不出幾年，將會有一次政府債券拍賣失敗，資本市場將陷入瘋狂，美聯儲（Fed）和財政部（Treasury）將緊急趕往國會山，要求獲得巨額緊急援助。奧巴馬醫保改革將使危機進一步加深、來得更快。”

????如今，共和黨人發出這種反對增加政府開支的言論乃是司空見慣之事。但有一點使得瑞安與眾不同，他在眾議院任職的11年間一直致力于宣揚自由市場理念，但其觀點獲得的關注并不多。

????如今，這位時年40的威斯康辛州簡斯維爾人正成為共和黨在經濟政策方面的權威人物，因為他為如何解決赤字問題制訂了詳實的路線圖，而民主黨和共和黨都認識到美國財政未來危機四伏。（美國財政的未來到底有多黯淡？總統的2011年預算預測，2020年財政赤字將突破1萬億美元，相當于國內生產總值（GDP）的4.2%，這不可能維持下去——上述數字還是假定失業率較低且經濟增長速度不錯的情況。

????并不是只有共和黨人突然注意到瑞安對削減赤字與政府開支的觀點。2010年早些時候共和黨議員們在巴爾的摩集會，瑞安在會上的亮相如今已經廣為人知，因為就連奧巴馬總統也將他單獨拿出來大做文章。“那是我的40歲生日，我正在吃午餐，6歲的兒子坐在我膝蓋上，”瑞安驚奇地說，“突然間總統開始說起我，我大吃一驚。”

????譯者：小宇

????On the eve of President Barack Obama's winter health-care summit, Rep. Paul Ryan is dining at Talay Thai, a no-frills restaurant with metal chairs and Formica tables. On this frigid evening, Ryan strolled coatless to Talay -- "I'm from Wisconsin!" he says -- from his cramped Capitol Hill office, where tonight, as on most nights, he'll sleep on a cot.

????Such frugality is fitting for a politician who, as he sips ice water, frets that America is "sleep-walking toward a debt crisis." Ryan tells me: "Within a few years a sale of government bonds will fail. The capital markets will go crazy, and the Fed and Treasury will run to Capitol Hill demanding a giant bailout. Adding Obamacare would make the crisis go deeper and arrive faster."

????It isn't unusual to hear such antispending rhetoric from Republicans these days. What makes Ryan a rarity is that he's been preaching cerebral free-market ideas during his 11 years in Congress, despite getting little attention for his views.

????Now the 40-year-old Janesville, Wis., native is emerging as the leading GOP voice on economic policy, thanks to his detailed blueprint for solving what both Democrats and Republicans agree is a perilous fiscal future. (How bad is America's financial picture? The President's budget for 2011 forecasts deficits running at more than $1 trillion, or an unsustainable 4.2% of GDP, in 2020 -- and that assumes low unemployment and decent growth of the economy.)

????Republicans aren't the only ones suddenly taking notice of Ryan's views on deficit reduction and government spending. During his now-famous appearance at the Republican congressional retreat in Baltimore earlier this year, the President singled out Ryan. "It was my 40th birthday, and I'm sitting at lunch with my 6-year-old son on my knee," marvels Ryan. "And the President starts talking about me. I was amazed!"