” ... marginal US producers will be bankrupted under a mountain of debt, ready to come crashing down.”
Marginal (high-cost) producers are always endangered by unexpectedly low world prices. That’s the risk they take. For the US economy as a whole, low oil prices are now roughly a wash, with the losses to domestic producers offset by gains to consumers
True, and when/if they do, the assets will be snapped up by stronger hands, and the yield will endure.