This is more than a backlash against the bubble years, or a mere pendulum swing in attitudes and practices.

"During the bubble years, companies became very nonchalant about organized-crime contacts, from top to bottom," he said.

In fact, during the bubble years, the aggregate amount of short selling declined as stock prices were bid up.

Executives who became accustomed to rich returns during the bubble years may not have adjusted their expectations to the current climate.

Still, the company's losses last quarter were mainly write-offs on the value of acquisitions the company made during the bubble years.

During the bubble years, far too many companies came to define earnings the way they wanted to, sometimes changing the definition from quarter to quarter.

During the ensuing decade, known as the bubble years, stock and real estate price reached astronomical levels.

What drove this recession was a plunge in business spending, as companies realized that they had over invested in the bubble years.

"During the bubble years of the early 1990's he was talking about stocks."

With stock prices way down from the bubble years, shareholders should be more aggressive.