For more than a decade interest rates were falling and zombie companies roamed the economy with the benefit of low interest payments. Free money from the government during COVID also provided a shot in the arm for the financially infirm. 

“Bankruptcy fulfills the crucially important social function of preserving the available stock of capital. And it plays this role in all conceivable scenarios: when it results from fraud, when it results from insolvency, and when it results from illiquidity.”