Word: pullback
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...With real (i.e. inflation-adjusted) oil prices having more than tripled since the last recession ended in late 2001, a pullback by the heretofore unflappable American consumer is a distinct possibility that would spell trouble for the rest of the world. Particularly worrisome is the possibility of a double whammy for the world's fastest growing region, non-Japan Asia. This economic bloc is likely to be hit especially hard by the combined impacts of its inefficient energy consumption technology and its excess dependence on the American consumer...
...invariably moves a few steps forward--then a few steps back. Even as thousands of Lebanese gathered in Beirut's Martyrs' Square on Saturday to call on Syria to end its occupation, thousands of Syrians cheered Assad as he told his parliament that he would make only a partial pullback of Syrian forces. "Bush, Bush, listen. The Syrian people will not bow!" chanted the crowd...
...happy to ignore Arafat's legitimacy as elected President of the Palestinian Authority. A democratic vote could empower Palestinians with the mandate to make peace. And that could present the Bush Administration with an opportunity to press Sharon into expanding his unilateral withdrawal from Gaza into a negotiated pullback from much of the West Bank...
...long run, pacifying enough of the country to allow for a U.S. pullback will require not just an effective military strategy but also a political one. The U.S. has failed in 19 months to get significant reconstruction work off the ground. Lack of security is partly to blame: kidnappings, killings and sabotage have driven out aid agencies and private contractors. The Bush Administration has managed to spend about $1 billion of the $18.4 billion Congress appropriated for reconstruction a year ago. And plenty more may be required to stabilize Iraq--a prospect that seems particularly dim in the midst...
...doom and gloom surrounding growing U.S. health-care costs continued last week, when a much watched survey of company health-insurance plans revealed a double-digit increase in family premiums for the fourth year in a row. Despite a slight pullback in the rate of growth, premiums over the past year jumped 11.2%, outpacing inflation and growth in wages by about five times. According to the survey, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust, that hike was equally borne by companies and employees, whose share of the costs rose an average 9.8% for singles...