bog down, pet project, quagmire

White House Debate Led to Plan to Widen Afghan Effort
By HELENE COOPER and ERIC SCHMITT
The administration's plan for Afghanistan followed a fierce internal debate in which the vice president urged caution against a quagmire, while military advisers argued for more troops.

Today, troubled assets are stuck in a quagmire and will be for years unless bankruptcy laws are changed. The capitalist system is the most efficient wealth-producing machine in existence. We must strive to remove barriers that thwart this efficiency.

Mr. Icahn is chairman of Icahn Enterprises, a publicly traded diversified holding company.

wsj

眼下﹐問題資產深陷泥潭﹐如果不改革破產法﹐它們將在那裡呆上數年。資本主義體系是現存的最有效率的財富創造機器。我們必須努力消滅那些削弱這種效率的障礙。

評
這兒 machine的意思是"制度"
機構 (the military ～ 軍部; the social ～ 社会機構）


Many experts warn that if the package is delayed for too long, or gets bogged down by pet projects, it might not be as effective in propping up the moribund economy.

bog

Dictionary: bog (bôg, bŏg)

n.

1. 1. An area having a wet, spongy, acidic substrate composed chiefly of sphagnum moss and peat in which characteristic shrubs and herbs and sometimes trees usually grow.
   2. Any of certain other wetland areas, such as a fen, having a peat substrate. Also called peat bog.
2. An area of soft, naturally waterlogged ground.

v., bogged, bog·ging, bogs. v.tr.

To cause to sink in or as if in a bog: We worried that the heavy rain across the prairie would soon bog our car. Don't bog me down in this mass of detail.

v.intr.

To be hindered and slowed.

[Irish Gaelic bogach, from bog, soft.]

bog down

Become stuck, be unable to progress, as in Their research bogged down because they lacked the laboratory expertise. This expression transfers sinking into the mud of a swamp to being hampered or halted. [First half of 1900s]

The verb bog down has 4 meanings:

Meaning #1: get stuck while doing something
Synonym: bog

Meaning #2: cause to get stuck as if in a mire
Synonym: mire

Meaning #3: be unable to move further
Synonyms: get stuck, mire

Meaning #4: cause to slow down or get stuck
Synonym: bog

Diet bogged down over call for Nukaga to testify

Already in turmoil, the Diet is sinking deeper into a quagmire with an unusual decision to summon an incumbent Cabinet minister as a sworn witness, the first in 31 years.(29 November) [more]

quag・mire

━━ n. 沼地; 窮地.