I actually don't understand how this would affect bankruptcies — why?

I don't know if this is his point, but a decent amount of cash went to individuals as part of Covid relief in different forms, and this caused a delay in bankruptcies because people were able to pay their bills. Pick your moral quandry.

Speculation/personal read on this.

1. A lot of companies got used to ZIRP money (not to mention the trickle-down effect to the rest of the economy).

2. The COVID printing spree/helicopter money had a knock-on effect of rising inflation (more dollars/demand competing for the same resources, or less). That was made even worse by tariff fluctuations.

3. The delta between revenue/investment money vs. cost increases relative to inflation likely exceeded the threshold for these companies to stay solvent (or to make it worth it to keep the business operational).

Businesses focused more on seeking out easy government money than building good products.