Unable to rouse more than the Saddam-supporting left with their kooky foreign-policy ideas, the Democrats had been counting on a lousy economy.

The company's management blamed the layoffs on the "lousy economy" and advertising revenues that were 16% below projections in May and about 25% for June, July, and the first half of August.

That's easy: the lousy economy.

A. The lousy economy in New Jersey has claimed many victims.

The cheapest fitness DVDs Thanks to the lousy economy, it's come to this: You may have to choose between your Spinning class or your twice-a-month cleaning service.

The bad news about the inflation results, said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at the Norwest Corporation in Minneapolis, "is that it is a reflection of the lousy economy."

A lousy economy can define a Presidency, as it did for Herbert Hoover.

Republicans want to ensure a lousy economy for 2012.

There's a difference between obtaining the benefit of your opponent's lousy economy and actively pursuing policies that (non-fanatics agree) will lead to just that.

In this black comedy of morals cracking in a lousy economy, Levison often leaves us in the dark about his motives.