Very good post.
You are quite right that there are other stakeholders besides the people who became addicted.
Bankruptcy court allows these things to be sorted out under supervision of a court that is expert in such situations (at least in major business states like New York, Delaware, Texas etc.).
I would add that bankruptcy laws also protect the capitalist system as a whole by allowing corporations to borrow money, and sell securities on far more favorable terms, since creditors and shareholders know exactly where they sit in the pecking order for distributions of available cash if worse comes to worst.
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Thanks. Your last sentence-true except when Obama stepped in with GM, the creditors got bumped out of order. There were some lawsuits. Not sure if that has had an impact on activities in the commercial paper markets or other markets.
Mark