I couldn't make it through this (rather long) article, in part because a lot of it seemed to take as a given that you could predict interest rate movements. There are, probably, a large # of companies out there right now who have made keeping a large debt load part of their way of doing business, who are right now starting to find out that this makes them fragile.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a grumpy guy who nonetheless makes some good points sometimes, said debt was a way to "fragilize". Like Just-In-Time manufacturing, it can make sense up to a point, but is often taken way further, to the point of being a bet that nothing in your environment will change.
At least for bigger companies that doesn't appear to hold (if I understand the point)? - they can borrow at a fixed rate by issuing bonds or they can enter into a swap to pay fixed and receive floating to hedge out their interest rate exposure.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a grumpy guy who nonetheless makes some good points sometimes, said debt was a way to "fragilize". Like Just-In-Time manufacturing, it can make sense up to a point, but is often taken way further, to the point of being a bet that nothing in your environment will change.