Word: spigot
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...trying to influence markets, policymakers must balance on a tightrope amid shifting financial winds. Some investors are already miffed at the government for allowing the IPO spigot to open wide, saying that the burgeoning supply of shares could push prices down. As far as the authorities are concerned, a bit of a correction is probably welcome. But they don't want a bust. When the Shanghai Composite Index plunged 8.8% in February after analysts warned Beijing was about to impose a capital-gains tax, the government quickly backed off. Stocks resumed their rise, but dangers remain. As tech investors learned...
...Belatedly, the Administration has attempted to revive diplomacy in the Middle East. But diplomacy isn't a spigot you turn on and off; it is a tepid stream of meetings and consultations. It is not for those with attention-deficit disorder; it requires patient, intensive listening to oft-repeated positions and grievances, the eternal search for a comma that will appease both sides. For that reason alone, it would be wonderful to have a President with lots of stamps in his or her passport or a President who speaks a foreign language fluently or has lived overseas or has spent...
...Bernanke-Greenspan point of view is that averting Great Depression--style financial meltdowns by opening the federal monetary spigot is a good thing. The doom guys (who usually refer to Bernanke as "Helicopter Ben") argue that this is short-sighted. Without occasional, and painful, unravelings of debt and speculation, debt and speculation inevitably get out of hand. It's a stark, almost Puritan way of looking at the world, and it has been out of step with economic reality for the past quarter-century. But that doesn't mean it always will...
...Earth is choking on greenhouse gases, it's not hard to see why. Global carbon dioxide output last year approached a staggering 32 billion tons, with about 25% of that coming from the U.S. Turning off the carbon spigot is the first step, and many of the solutions are familiar: windmills, solar panels, nuclear plants. All three technologies are part of the energy mix, although each has its issues, including noise from windmills and radioactive waste from nukes...
...intense operation would probably send oil prices soaring above $100 per bbl.--which may explain why the Navy wants to be sure its small fleet of minesweepers is ready to go into action at a moment's notice. It is unlikely that Iran would turn off its own oil spigot or halt its exports through pipelines overland, but it could direct its proxies in Iraq and Saudi Arabia to attack pipelines, wells and shipment points inside those countries, further choking supply and driving up prices...