[pas]

Why do you say they misjudged the risk? They got bailed out, the regulations that were enacted in 2008 with big fanfare were/are being slowly but surely rolled back, metrics are good, business has been booming for 10+ years until COVID, but even now "the assets are safe".

The middle class is being displaced by automation and capital consolidation: [pdf] https://economics.mit.edu/files/11563 and https://economics.mit.edu/files/12979

Since yields/returns are so low, it's no wonder rent seeking is the "new" hot shit. Returns are low because there's no aggregate demand, because the middle class disappears, see above. And so the vicious cycle does what it does.

Agreed on Nikola just being a small symptom. See also WeWork.