Reply #1: The elephant squatting on the paper [View All]

Why would the New York Times or Boston Globe have ANY debt? Why would any of the old retailers have ANY debt?

No one seems to ask these questions. No one seems to want to hold accountable those who embezzled, legally perhaps but certainly not ethically, millions from these companies over the years.

Imagine that I own a corner store. It's been paid for since 1990. I bring in a partner who pays me $500K for half of that store. The $500K was borrowed. I took his money, and bought myself a house, and BTW we reorganized the store as a corporation before I did this. Then as a partner in that business, I borrow $500K from a bank run by a friend of mine. I pay myself that $500K and buy my kid a house. Now my paid for business is on the hook for $10,000 a month in payments. Clearly, the wages of the employees are the reason the place isn't making money anymore.