The men with whom I interact are professional, do what they say they will, communicate well, and pull their weight.

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Europe's firms and workers are too cosseted, they argue, and as a result the continent's economies are unable to pull their weight in the world economy.

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But the principle is: are the few Brazilians who pay income tax, and the legislators they influence, willing to pull their weight in a fight that matters to all Brazil?

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But parents have got to pull their weight.

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They have to be able to pull their own weight.

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It was a request more appropriate to the cold war, when Australia supported the United States with troops in Korea and Vietnam, than to an era when the Americans expect allies to pull their own weight in their own regions.

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The other driver: Now that accounting firms are prohibited from selling higher-margin technology consulting services to their auditing clients, auditing units have to pull more of their own weight.

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One upper body machine, called the "High Pulley, " requires users to reach over their heads to pull down a weight.

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