Merriam-Webster gives an informal sense of flake out: “to fail or neglect to do or participate in something previously scheduled, agreed upon, or assigned.” An example from CBS News: a seller wants “to be certain that the buyer will consummate the transaction and not flake out.”
If You Like Your Plan
Starting in 2009, Barack Obama promised: “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.” PolitiFact counted 37 times when he said it with no caveats. In late 2013 at least 3.5 million Americans received notices that their plans were canceled.
On November 7, 2013, Obama told NBC News: “I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me.” In December PolitiFact named the promise its Lie of the Year for 2013.
Read My Lips
On August 18, 1988, George H. W. Bush accepted the Republican nomination in New Orleans. “And the Congress will push me to raise taxes and I’ll say no. And they’ll push, and I’ll say no, and they’ll push again, and I’ll say, to them, “Read my lips: no new taxes.”” The speechwriter Peggy Noonan wrote the passage.
In 1990 Bush agreed to a budget compromise that increased several existing taxes. The New York Post ran the headline “Read my Lips: I Lied.” In 1992 Pat Buchanan and Bill Clinton both used the pledge against him. Bush lost the election, and the broken promise is counted among the important reasons.
Tesla’s Bane
In 1885 Nikola Tesla, who had recently immigrated to the US from Serbia, told his employer Thomas Edison that he could redesign Edison’s direct current generators, greatly improving both their service and cost. Hearing this, Edison remarked: “There’s fifty thousand dollars in it for you if you can do it.”
Even though Edison’s company had a reputation for being tightfisted, Tesla took him at his word, and after he completed the task, Edison refused to pay him the money. Instead, Edison told Tesla that he was only joking, and offered him a $10 per week raise for his current $18 per week salary. Insulted, Tesla immediately resigned.
bane: death, destruction; woe; a source of harm or ruin, a curse. Middle English, from Old English, akin to Old High German death. First Known Use: before 12th century
tightfisted – parsimonious; stingy; tight; mean; miserly. Origin from 1835-45.