They seem to have built too much. When there's a glut of something, you mark down prices to sell it. Ice is an erosion of profits. Ice is excess capacity. Ice is developing countries with low-cost factories and huge new labor forces.
Ice is creative price destruction.
The source of this new ice age seems to be Asia. Because local demand for goods is weak, Asians are sending cheap products abroad at a furious pace. This is called exporting deflation. Right now, the United States is benefiting from this process. Low prices are good for consumers, and they foster low interest rates, which are great for the bond and stock markets.