Some latch onto the pendulum as it soars higher, but others get whacked as it returns.

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Afraid a key vendor will get whacked by a hurricane and shut down your production?

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If you are prepared for some risk, junk bonds pay about 5%, but they tend to get whacked when interest rates rise.

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When bad weather forces airlines to thin flight schedules, regional airlines get whacked first because carriers would rather used limited landing slots for larger airplanes with more people.

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But if the IRA gets left outside a trust, and after the second spouse dies is part of a taxable estate, it will get whacked by both estate and income taxes.

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If the company hits trouble, you get whacked twice.

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It assumes, however, that Congress lets all temporary tax extenders expire, ends all funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and allows physicians to get whacked with a huge cut in Medicare payments.

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Investment bank Goldman Sachs, which was close to the bottom in terms of performance during the period, has seen its shares get whacked because the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 16 charged Goldman and one of its vice presidents with fraud.

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