> I don’t feel like a company with no assets or income can do that much damage to their societies.

Keep in mind that those companies will almost always own some debit to their employees when they blow up.

IMO, $25k is a ridiculous amount of capital to require from a company before they can operate. But capital requirements are good, and they should be proportional to employment, not company existence.

There are ways to go into debt without dealing with banks. Any time you use something and are charged afterwards, it's a debt (which you could fail to pay by being broke by the time the invoice arrives). Common example - rent/lease. Or gas/electricity.