And the only leverage he used was garden variety: buying on margin.

"The only leverage the residents have is to say we're going to stay here until you build the stuff," he said.

"He's talking to the press because it's the only leverage he has," one senior creditor said.

"The only real leverage I had over him was he needed the money."

"The only leverage we had was to apply an exclusion zone."

"Institutionally, the only leverage we have is the voice of the American people," she said.

The threat of a strike, though, is the only leverage that a union has over the employer.

It is the only real leverage the regime has.

For them, the threat of selecting one manufacturer over another is often the only leverage they have.