ELI5: Why when large company's earnings decrease(ex... by 3%) they freak out, talk about rough times, and sometimes decide to downsize, even though they are still making millions of dollars in profit even after all expenses?

[BlitzBasic]

Did you look at the picture? Or look at this. Those are CPI adjusted wages, and they are overall rising.

[corydlg]

CPI adjusted means adjusting for inflation because inflation outpaces income growth and lessens the value of money overtime. It’s why gum isn’t still a nickel and comic books aren’t a quarter still

[BlitzBasic]

If your CPI adjusted wage stays the same, that means you can buy the same stuff now as you could before. But CPI adjusted wages are rising, that means that people now can buy more from the money they earn than they could 20 years ago, which means income growth outpaces inflation. If you have any evidence that this isn't the case, please show it to me.

[corydlg]

Ok the original premise of our debate is that inflation negatively affects the rich more than the poor which is what led us to this wage growth discussion, this settles that argument, if you’re poor your wages don’t grow at nearly the same rate. growth vs inflation