But cutting interest rates as a first response to any distress in the financial sector has helped to blow bubbles in asset prices dotcom stocks in the late 1990s, house prices in the 2000s.

ECONOMIST: The credit crunch

But the question is, why are those companies in distress in the first place?

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This failure is often the first visible sign of financial distress in a market where SEC disclosure rules are not enforced.

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Like any CEO hired from outside to turn around a company in distress, and like any parent expecting the first child, Mayer may not know what she is getting into.

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Speaking for the first time on Friday evening, Ms Payne spoke of her distress but said she still had faith in those who had supported her.

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To the degree that our involvement in the film depends on our distress at her demise, all is lost in the first few minutes. (It's lost again in the last few minutes of a surprise ending.) Yet Grace is no more dislikable than anyone else on screen.

WSJ: Film Review

Worldwide, Dell has five control centers to answer distress signals, including one in Xiamen where Dell built its first Chinese factory in 1998.

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While the schemes to help debtors in distress are harder to fault, many question the wisdom of coaxing first-time buyers into a falling market.

ECONOMIST: The economy