Some say volatility, rather than debt, is the best way to think about risk as an investor, but Warren Buffett famously said that ‘Volatility is far from synonymous with risk.’ So it seems the smart money knows that debt – which is usually involved in bankruptcies – is a very important factor, when you assess how risky a company is. We can see that Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG) does use debt in its business. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating?

Why…