Whatever the extent of their restructuring so far, companies still face a big task cleaning up their balance sheets (eg, by selling assets and pulling out of unprofitable businesses) before they can start growing again.

ECONOMIST: Japanese corporate profits

However, all this activity merely reveals the scale of the task of cleaning up China's banks.

ECONOMIST: A bank scandal in China

Whoever wins in November will have the task of cleaning up that mess.

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As Douglas set about the massive task of cleaning up after that, I ran to the store to get some stomach-soothing soup for him.

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The former New York police chief, who managed to halve the murder rate in the Big Apple, has now taken up the task of cleaning up Los Angeles.

BBC: Bratton tackles LAPD blues

And that task would be followed by even more painstaking work evaluating damage, then cleaning and repairing or replacing the electronic signal arrays that line every inch of the subway tracks, and which are essential to running the system's trains.

WSJ: Salt Water Puts City's Subway System 'in Jeopardy'