Word: grim
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...helped, they will have to reduce expenditures as their tax revenues plummet, and their reduced spending will lead to a contraction of the economy. But to kick-start the economy, Washington must make investments in the future. Hurricane Katrina and the collapse of the bridge in Minneapolis were grim reminders of how decrepit our infrastructure has become. Investments in infrastructure and technology will stimulate the economy in the short run and enhance growth in the long...
This is what keeps Fringe from being more than grim spatter sci-fi: it gets that the very things that make science terrifying also make it cool. (See also CSI.) This is especially true when it comes to the bioscience conundrums that make Fringe's sci-fi so literally intimate. On this new X-Files, the truth is not just out there. It's in here--encrypted in our bodies, under our skin, in our very DNA. If only we could figure out what we are trying to tell ourselves...
...self-deprecating humor is familiar to the 4,500 residents of this beautiful, barren 450,000-acre (182 hectare) reservation. Irony is almost unavoidable because the realities of life here are grim. According to school officials, nearly half of all families exist below the poverty line. Unemployment runs as high as 85%. Alcohol and drug abuse are appalling...
...does anyone want to invest now? For many people opening their third-quarter brokerage statements, the news is grim. "Our call volumes are up 100%. We are just on fire here," says Gary Bhojwani, CEO of Allianz Life Insurance in Minneapolis, which sells annuities--insurance products that trade off risk and the potentially higher returns that stocks or bonds offer in exchange for a guaranteed payback. (Most annuities are guaranteed by state insurance regulators.) Investors who wouldn't know an annuity from a pineapple are asking one question: Is my money safe...
...This grim outlook presents some particularly tricky challenges to those in charge. In previous downturns, such as the early 1990s slump, governments typically ramped up state spending in order to offset the drop in business activity. But this time, the gigantic cost of bank bailouts will leave national treasuries with little room for maneuver. Indeed, the bailout plans - under which stricken banks will receive direct injections of taxpayer money to strengthen their capital base, while governments provide guarantees aimed at getting banks to lend to one another again - may well throw government finances seriously out of kilter...