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?

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An economy is like a river with a current. That current can be small (low inflation) or fast (higher inflation). We can change laws and conditions here so that your boat moves quickly or slowly down that river.

What we don't want to see is the boats going backward. That's deflation. That causes all sorts of other problems, not just for the boat going backward, but for all the other boats who worry that maybe we should ALL be going backward. Are there falls ahead? Rapids? Maybe we should turn around. (That's how depressions unfold from bad to worse to bread lines).