1.   Allowing companies to fire workers to cut bloated costs is crucial to helping them shore up their profits, government and business leaders say.

2.   General Motors claims it needs to use more outside suppliers to trim its bloated cost structure.

3.   It also means a continued bloated cost structure in Japan.

4.   JAL has been cutting its bloated fixed costs -- primarily salaries for flight attendants and pilots -- by hiring more lower-paid foreigners and cutting jobs.

5.   Many of the California banks he bought were burdened with bad loans or bloated cost structures.

6.   Nevertheless, Dial is plagued by a bloated cost structure.

7.   Said another way, the Bells would not be allowed to pass along the bloated costs that they had actually incurred as an inefficient, government-protected monopolist.

8.   The company attributed its continued earnings problems to bloated costs, competitive pricing for personal computers and slow sales growth.

9.   The new labor law would allow companies to reduce bloated costs, which have soared as the currency reached a record low.

10.   The system had a reputation for bloated costs and sometimes substandard care.