Being put a fiscal straitjacket as well just makes things worse.

President Bush said today that there was a benefit to the government's fast-dwindling surplus, declaring that it will create "a fiscal straitjacket for Congress."

It was just two decades ago, as New York lay mired in a fiscal straitjacket, that Central Park appeared to be dying.

"He's basically created a fiscal straitjacket."

In practical terms, it puts the Chilean president in a fiscal straitjacket.

But the district's fiscal straitjacket is similar to those of many other cities: tax revenues have been flat for three years, while spending has continued to rise.

If we are to escape these fiscal and psychic straitjackets, the coming decade is pivotal.

Various states in the United States have various forms of self-imposed fiscal straitjackets.

This sharply higher unemployment is likely to place Chancellor Kohl in a fiscal and political straitjacket.

The usual criticism is that although the pact promotes stability, it also acts as a fiscal straitjacket and thus exacerbates weakness in monetary growth.