horse and rabbit stew

horse and rabbit stew

A situation comprising that which is crude or unpleasant as well as that which is pleasing or beneficial, usually with the former in greater proportion to the latter. Used especially in reference to economics or business. The prime minister's plan for the economic recovery is little more than horse and rabbit stew, with a few token stimulus incentives greatly outweighed by draconian austerity measures.
See also: and, horse, rabbit, stew
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • come to a bad end
  • come to a bad/sticky end
  • be a fate worse than death
  • be in for
  • be in for something
  • no-win situation
  • no-win situation, a
  • a sad state (of affairs)
  • pleasing to the eye
  • a sorry state (of affairs)
References in periodicals archive
Irwin Stelzer has written a thoughtful review of our book, American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What Made America Prosper ("Horse and Rabbit Stew," Winter 2016/17).
Second, Stelzer complains that we advocate for a balance between the state and the market that resembles the facetious recipe for "horse and rabbit stew," nicely balanced between one horse and one rabbit.
Government and the private sector