Even when they do sort out the acute problem of the ceiling, the U.S. is still on the brink of bankruptcy and will have to resort to dramatic measures to turn the deficit juggernauts around.

FORBES: An Islamic Solution To U.S. Debt Problems

Still other families turn to it as a tool of last resort to entertain and appease children on plane and car trips.

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So instead the Gulf Coast's towns and cities may have to turn to their last resort.

FORBES: Party's Over

Murdoch, a billionaire and high school dropout, is also the chairman of Dole Food dol (nyse: dol - news - people), which spun off CCS in 1992 to turn Lanai into a resort after its pineapple plantations there shut down.

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He bought an island in Fiji from the Forbes family for an undisclosed sum and plans to turn part of it into a resort.

FORBES: Magazine Article

His original plans were to turn it into a model sustainable resort, with with 20 villas and a beachfront restaurant powered entirely by wind turbines and solar panels.

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"We had no other alternative but to turn to the law, use it basically as a last resort, " Jim Smith said.

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Any bank with its headquarters in Scotland would need certainty about which central bank it could turn to for money when markets freeze - which central bank would be its lender of last resort.

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