While costs have plunged thanks to layoffs, debt reduction and plant closings, the company's North American operation is a shell of its former self.

虽然通过裁员、削减债务和关闭工厂大幅降低了成本，但通用汽车北美业务现在只是徒有其表。

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"This is a self-inflicted margin-reduction," Mr Kurtz says.

“这是在给自己找别扭，怪不得利润下降了。”库尔茨说。

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We released self-imposed emissions reduction targets and contributed to the positive outcomes of international negotiations on climate change.

公布自主减排行动目标，推动国际气候变化谈判取得积极成果。

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John Edwards (D-NC), the vice presidential nominee in 2004, used an S-Corp to reduce his self-employment tax (the S-Corp loophole) on tens of millions of dollars in legal fee income, whereas Gov. Romney did not seek to use this S-Corp. self-employment tax reduction strategy.

FORBES: Mitt Romney Is Hardly A Pig When It Comes To Tax Deductions

An example given in this video is the reduction of local self-sufficiency in popular and effective herbal medicines such as Nardostachys grandiflora and Picrorhiza scrophulariifolia.

UNESCO: Communication and Information

Emissions are falling by less than a percentage point a year, and the government has admitted that it will fail to meet a self-imposed target of a 20% reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions on 1990 levels by next year, even though the recession has cut economic activity.

ECONOMIST: Lessons from Britain about how to cut carbon, and how not to