Now it has been a big drag for more than a year and is likely to remain so for a while yet.Had the Fed acted differently, would the boom and bust have been less marked?
This in turn should enable growers to use fewer chemicals to protect their crops which could be a big drag for companies that, like Syngenta, rely heavily on sales of such things as insecticide.
A prime cause of its malaise is the former East Germany, which has been a bigger drag on the national economy, and for longer, than optimists had hoped a decade ago.
Imports grew nearly three times as fast as exports for the period, producing a bigger drag on output.
Japan's stagnant economy represents the single biggest drag on growth for all the economies of the Pacific Rim. Hopes for Japanese growth were set back in December, when the Hashimoto government offered a new budget, including steep tax increases in the middle of a recession.
While not endorsing any specific proposals, Mr. Bernanke made clear that the home mortgage crisis remained the single biggest drag on prospects for a recovery, and said that it was up to Congress to act.
The warning weighed on Chinese bank shares, which were the biggest drag on the Hang Seng index for the Hong Kong stock market Tuesday.
Heart disease was the single biggest drag on black life expectancy, accounting for a full year of the 3.8-year difference between whites and blacks.
Whereas Germany was for years the biggest drag on the euro area's growth, that honour is now being transferred to France.
It has brought us "Life on Mars," a revised "Doctor Who," and its spinoff, "Torchwood," as if to say, "And you thought airport security lines were a big drag!" British science-fiction television allows for plenty of American cultural imperiousness.
