Pinch more than an inch

First, we heard this from Bush's radio address:

"Good morning. American families and small businesses across the country are feeling the pinch from rising gas prices."

Then this from a Bush interview on CNBC:

"I will be talking to our friends to make sure if they pinch the economy too much, it will affect their ability to sell crude oil in the long run," he said.

There you have it. In deference to BushCo, everyone in the media will eventually use the cute euphemism "pinch" to indicate anything from (A) a reminder to turn off lights when leaving the room to (Z) a horrible slide into survivalism.