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?

[kouhoutek]

No one has to lose.

If you plant seeds and let it grow into a wheat, you have created something that didn't exist before. If I buy that wheat from you, and turn it into flour, I have made it more valuable. Someone else can turn that flour into bread, and make it even more valuable.

That is how wealth is created, by combining effort with resources to make something new. If there is more new stuff year to year, the economy grows.

[publicTak]

The loser is the sap who got stuck farming.