fat years

Fat years for Neil, at least from the public's point of view.

With the 1991 vintage, it was clear that the fat years had ended.

Until another generation has grown up in the fat years, that is unlikely to change soon.

Still, those were fat years for every firm on Wall Street.

"We had seven fat years," said one state fiscal monitor.

Still, Hans's family may look back on 2005 and 2006 as the fat years if neither of them finds regular work.

He had grown careless during these last fat years.

During fat years, Cuba did little to anticipate this eventuality.

Those fat years are just a memory now.

But during "those fat years," she said, "the deficits were easy to mask."

On the contrary, most are more upbeat than they've been since the fat years of the 1980's.

But the mid-1980's were fat years, and recession turned tribute into temptation.

I am reminded of Joseph - seven fat years followed by seven lean ones.

One reason American business has enjoyed seven fat years is that growth in much of the world has been tepid.

The government is supposed to run deficits in slack times and stash away surpluses during the fat years.

In the late 1980's, which were also fat years for advertising, profit margins ranged from 16.5 to 19.2 percent.

The Bible exhorts us to save in fat years for the lean years ahead.

Other cost-conscious companies are turning to incentive plans that let their employees benefit during the fat years, but not the lean ones.

Intuitively, the downturn might not look that surprising, since we generally expect several fat years to be followed by lean ones.

"His track record is amazing; his years of stewardship have been very fat years for everyone."

What comes after seven fat years?

After a few fat years, store security tightened up and Boo ended up doing a stint in the big house.

After nearly seven fat years on Wall Street, America may be poised for a life style retooling.

You won't find a consideration of this choice in "Fat Years and Lean."

So, in the rings of the talkative pines we find lean years and fat years recorded.