It was due to deceitful, and perhaps illegal, games played by corporate executives: diverting funds into secret partnerships, cooking the books to keep those deals secret, lying to investors and employees about the financial health of the company, while selling their own stock to make sure they wouldn't be hurt when the whole house of cards collapsed.
Demoralized Republican operatives are reported to be planning a secret meeting to decide whether McCain should be dumped at this very late date by another candidate on the grounds of ill health.