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Perhaps the fastest-growing field for investment bankers is bailing out foundering companies. "We're the cleanup crew who are picking up the pieces left over from the decade-long party of debt," says Wilbur Ross, a senior managing director at Wall Street's Rothschild Inc. "What you're seeing now is a mirror image of the 1980s." Memories of the '80s have left some skeptics doubting whether once high-flying dealmakers really have reformed. "Just when we thought it was safe, they're back again," says Perrin Long, director of research at First of Michigan Corp. "We have to be on guard against the excesses of the 1980s, because a lot of investment bankers haven't learned their lesson. They're still gung-ho, they're still knocking on doors, even though the business isn't there, and they're still blowing smoke. The danger is that they may find some chief executives with big egos who will listen." But while Wall Street's wheeler-dealers may lust for their old profits, power and glory, a return to '80s-style overborrowing is something that companies -- and the rest of the country -- know they can no longer afford.