Word: balk
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...estimate, to their 1967 level. Yet many Mexican officials feel that their diligence in making sacrifices, and in honoring every debt payment so far, has been insufficiently recognized by creditors abroad. ''Mexico requires special treatment,'' said Angel Gurria, head of foreign credit at the Finance Ministry. ''But bankers balk at setting a precedent.'' Many of those balkers come from Mexico's potential backers to the north. Former U.S. Ambassador John Gavin reportedly urged American bankers to withhold loans from Mexico until the country began to show signs of serious / economic reform. The Administration firmly maintains that Mexico cannot simply make...
These days, you'll increasingly have to make some effort to control pollution and balance profits with corporate social responsibility. But many Western multinationals would still balk at demands to create enough jobs in the host country to offset the corruption, inequality and not infrequent social unrest their fees can fuel. Such things, they argue, are someone else's concern. The persistence of this mind-set is one reason for the endurance of the "resource curse," the term given by economists to the paradox that countries blessed with natural wealth often grow more slowly and become more violent and repressive...
...there are the Maoists whose youth cadres are responsible for much of the lawlessness that has plagued parts of the country. The Maoist leader, still known by his nom de guerre Prachanda, insists they are committed to multi-party democracy, but some Kathmandu insiders believe the former rebels will balk at an election defeat. The Maoists consider themselves the chief catalysts of Nepal's transformation; recently, Prachanda declared to reporters that the path to a republic was "our agenda alone...
...people most likely to balk at tax-increased Internet prices are new users who figure if it's getting more expensive, they can keep doing without it," Mandela says. But with annual French internet access increasing by nearly 14% per year - and by more than 22% for fast connections - Sarkozy may be banking on something his fellow cash-strapped leaders may also get hip to: internet access just isn't optional for most people any more. "These days, there just aren't many people who could respond to higher Internet prices by saying, 'Forget it, I'll just do without...
...real" problem or was just faking it. In the current study, 80% of doctors disagreed with that statement. "That's a significant shift in doctors' thinking in a relatively short time," says lead author Rachel Sherman, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Chicago. Today, few doctors balk when patients say they have pain but show nothing abnormal in scans. "Physicians in this survey believe the mind and the body are inherently interconnected, and that belief can challenge our approach to the healing process in new, innovative ways," she says...