The downside risk here is that nobody wants to take any of these businesses over because it doesn't make financial sense anymore in the post COVID era, and then the economy spirals and we're all screwed. The economy is built on aspirations, and right now, there aren't a whole lot beyond a short term cash infusion from the Fed.
If nobody wants to buy those businesses, what does that tell you about them and the professional investors who chose to own hundreds of billions of dollars of their equity?
What does it tell you about the executives who chose to buy back shares rather than paying down debt?
What does it tell you about the idea that cash and other liquid assets on the balance sheet are detrimental to a company's value because of their impact on fundamental ratios?
I dispute your assertion, though. Boeing will be Boeing no matter what. GE will be GE no matter what. They build technology that would have been viewed as miraculous not too long ago.
Southwest Airlines, on the other hand, is just a bus company.
So all these businesses should go bankrupt on principle? Even if that ends up being most businesses in America? That's going to have an even worse impact on everyday people than not being able to make rent or pay bills, as hard as that is to imagine.
