Thread: Shields and Brooks Mull Economic Woes

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And the problem is there are very few people -- maybe Dan Ariely was on the segment as one of those few people -- who understands how to marry economics and psychology. So we're pulling a lot of economic levers, but if you don't have any psychological trust, people will not spend, they will not invest. You're just pushing on a string.

What's mean just pushing on a string? Is it idiom?

Это что-то, что не будет работать.
"Pushing on a string is a metaphor for influence that is more effective in moving things in one direction than another. If something is connected to you by a string, you can move it toward you by pulling on the string, but you can't move it away from you by pushing on the string. ..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushing_on_a_string