Word: undercut
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...problems facing the United States today--stagflation, unemployment, economic inequity, urban decay, and poverty--Harrington argues that the dominance of "corporate collectivism" has consistently subsumed human needs to business profit. American policymakers have manipulated statistics to support corporate needs, to underestimate the gravity of inequality in America and to undercut leftist solutions to American problems. Workers' wages and government spending for social programs became the scapegoat, Harrington asserts, although the real engine of inflation is corporate insistence on an untenable profit margin. By exaggerating capital shortage and attributing declining productivity to laziness and taxes instead of internal business fluctuations, business...
...sneer than sob. Perhaps sensing his emotional limitations, Elvis recorded "Big Tears" on a single last year, in which he accused his partner of calculated crying, empty tears, while dissolving into sobs himself. It was a pretty good song (though not good enough for inclusion on Armed Forces, undercut by an unexpansive melody and Costello's lack of vocal control). The concept reappears on Get Happy!! in "B Movie," this time with a meaner, more controlled vocal; but the style, the emotion, is successfully rendered in "Riot Act." Hanging on every heavy, condemnatory thump of Pete Thomas's drum...
...problem that bothers American career diplomats is what they call "back channeling"?that is, top officials circumventing ambassadors in ways that undercut their relationship with the capitals to which they have been appointed. A classic case in point: key negotiations with the U.S.S.R. in the Nixon, Ford and Carter Administrations have usually been carried out by Secretaries of State directly with longtime Soviet Ambassador Anatoli Dobrynin. Former Ambassador to Moscow Malcolm Toon, a career diplomat for 33 years, thinks this exclusive use of the "Washington channel" is all wrong. Says Toon: "As I told Vance a couple of times...
Both Carter and Vance have repeatedly criticized Israel's policy of expanding its settlements on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As Washington sees it, the new settlements undercut the efforts of Special Middle East Envoy Sol Linowitz to get a meaningful agreement between Egypt and Israel on autonomy for the Palestinian inhabitants of these occupied areas. When the Israeli Cabinet on Feb. 10 approved in principle the right of Jews to settle even in the Arab-populated West Bank town of Hebron, Carter felt that Israel had gone too far. Both at the White House...
...decision. Government insiders in Tehran contend that the Ayatullah could not afford to favor either side. If he instructed the militants to release their captives, he would lose face: until a month ago he had defended the hostage taking. If he sided with the militants, he would drastically undercut Banisadr and his attempts to fashion a stable government. Said a Western diplomat: "To look at the bright side, Khomeini is in effect telling the students it is not their business to decide the fate of the hostages...