As is often the case in Wall Street's Darwinian culture, the culling is expected to affect the old and the weak.

WSJ: Wall Street Gets Lean

"It is reprehensible that women, the old and the weak in our society should be targeted for alleged sorcery or wrongs that they actually have nothing to do with, " O'Neill said.

NPR: Accused Witch Burned Alive In Papua New Guinea

Mr. MEYERS: Well, I suppose the simple power of the theme and the idea that a man who is weak and poor and old, and has gone through tremendous physical hardships, including having his hands sort of torn up by the rope and the struggle, does in fact endure, and prevail, even though he's lost what he's fought for, because the sharks have eaten the marlin.

NPR: The Enduring Depths of 'Old Man and the Sea'

She was deemed too old and weak by the Canadian government to receive timely treatment for her colon cancer when she initially sought care.

FORBES: Congenital American Impatience Points to Obamacare's Failure

Photos from just a few months ago showed the 80-year old Cuban leader looking frail and weak.

NPR: Castro Gives First TV Interview Since Illness

And his voice, like an old photo fading in the light, had grown weak.

ECONOMIST: Papa Wendo

The old man put his fingers on her wrists to feel her pulse and said her kidneys were weak.

NEWYORKER: The House Behind a Weeping Cherry

What is clear is that the episode has shaken Paraguayans' already weak faith in their law enforcement institutions and 12-year-old democracy.

BBC: Eyewitness: Kidnappings shake Paraguay

One might expect that at the ripe old age of 100 the company would be creaking along with brittle bones, weak knees, a bad heart, and finding it hard to get up in the morning.

FORBES: Happy 100th Birthday IBM!