>some company which might buy all the assets at bankruptcy prices and then hire workers on much more favorable terms.

You do realise that care companies are one of the most asset-heavy companies in the world right? Nobody would have been able to pick up the pieces in a credit-crunch recession. Independently of that, there would still have been a long period between the shutdown of the company and it being picked up, and in the meantime tier-N companies would all suffer greatly as well.