It makes sense to take on massive amounts of debt to buy things when you get paid to be in debt.
Companies that do leveraged buyouts are going to have a good time.
When money isn't free - companies that do leveraged buyouts aren't going to have as good of a time.
Look at https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/REAINTRATREARAT1YE instead, the 1 year real interest rate, and it's barely been positive between 2009 and 2022.
And anyway - yes - a 1% real return really only existed in a long capacity since the 2000s, since QE became main stream.
It makes sense to take on massive amounts of debt to buy things when you get paid to be in debt.
Companies that do leveraged buyouts are going to have a good time.
When money isn't free - companies that do leveraged buyouts aren't going to have as good of a time.