The V.A. is a sclerotic and overwhelmed bureaucracy; it barely has the resources to maintain its current level of health coverage, let alone expand it.
Julianne Smith, director of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the mission in Afghanistan was at risk of failure, as political support in European capitals strained NATO's ability to sustain, let alone expand its effort there.
But in a political environment where austerity was all the rage, advocates like Alex Lawson, Social Security Works' executive director, were initially at pains to find members of Congress willing to pledge not to cut the program, let alone expand its benefits.
Prospects are dim for improving existing train travel, let alone expanding it into national networks of high-speed intercity routes.
At the same time, money is tight for managing the prisons, let alone expanding capacity, as the government chops away at spending to meet targets set by its international creditors.
I question the logic behind engaging youth in, let alone expanding or increasing, any contact with the court systems, particularly when we know that the court system is set up to subjugate and ensnare Black Lives.
Municipalities, half of which are in serious trouble, are finding it harder to deliver basic services, let alone to expand provision of water, sanitation and electricity.Angry demonstrations last year made it clear that the poor are frustrated.
This is the system that isn't affordable in its current, let alone an expanded state.
(Theoretically, hybrid cars that power up at night could get carbon-free energy if the power plants providing electricity are capturing their carbon. But that's not likely to happen soon in the United States, let alone in rapidly expanding China and India).
This is the great problem for fashion houses, he explains, and where many British designers come to grief - you have to pay your staff and overheads all year round but you only get two paydays a year, after the collections, and it is very hard to keep the ball rolling, let alone find money to expand.
He would never conduct Shostakovich (let alone Sibelius), though his sympathies expanded to include Szymanowski and then Janácek.
