The much harsher financial outlook for big pharmaceutical firms is the link between the three sackings, says Chris Schott of bank of America, an investment bank.
This allowed prices to do their job of signalling scarcity and abundance, even as it avoided the disruptions and hardship suffered by other transition economies.
It wasn't just the struggles of these men and women that had moved me. Rather, it was their determination, their self-reliance, a relentless optimism in the face of hardship.
Dell is struggling through a period in which it is trying to re-invent itself on a number of fronts - product design, customer service, and distribution.
My father 's crocuses bloomed each spring for the next four or five seasons, bringing that same assurance every time they arrived: Hard times almost over.