Initially these were supposed to be consultative exercises, green papers floating ideas for inclusion in the proper budget.
There was a touch of Reggie Perrin in Middlemen (1977), in which Matthews floated ideas for absurd businesses.
And although Mr Fox has promised more decentralisation, neither country has floated ideas for how to make it easier for cross-border cities to work together.
The Kazakh leader, who was against the break-up of the Soviet Union and is keen on integration European-Union style, periodically floats ideas for a common market.
Still, faced with international fury, Israel appears to be trying to show some flexibility, and some ministers have floated ideas for changing the blockade policy.
Max Baucus, the Democrat who heads the Senate's tax-writing committee, and Dave Camp, his Republican counterpart in the House of Representatives, have been taking testimony and floating ideas for almost three years.
That is why, even as the presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama are floating ideas for making insurance easier to obtain by individuals, there are also efforts under way to address the needs of small businesses.
It has already helped generate a wide range of new policies - including the new deal and the working families tax credit - and will again be in evidence tomorrow, with publication of the third pre-Budget report, a consultative document floating ideas for next March's Budget.
Protesters are raising money and floating ideas for how to cope as the temperature drops.
DOE officials were still open to working with Russia on nonproliferation and nuclear security, and floated ideas for projects in these areas.
(In a meeting with President Obama during his visit to India last year, Anand floated ideas for an electric-car "ecosystem").. India's manufacturing sector has been overshadowed by the country's services boom.
