There is a ratchet effect total spending can only move in one direction: higher.

FORBES: Compromise Or Gridlock In Washington: Two Unplatable Alternatives

This created a ratchet effect: lawmakers who wish to sound tough must propose laws tougher than the ones that the last chap who wanted to sound tough proposed.

ECONOMIST: Crime and punishment in America

One way to ratchet up their effect would be for Obama to launch an effort to cut off Iran's flow of imported gasoline.

FORBES: Freedom's Edge

If the decision is primarily an affirmation of the status quo (two congressional committees and a small army of Justice Department lawyers will continue probes), the main effect of Reno's decision was to ratchet up the political heat on herself.

CNN: Decision