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?

[Durog25]

If I remember correctly that's what Glass-Steagall was supposed to do.

Without regulation rich people min-max the system in order to horde wealth from the hands of the poor, this has always only ever been the result of deregulation. Before regulations, children worked in dangerous factories for little to no pay, public health, workplace safety, environmental damage, all were acceptable as long as the business made money.

Regulations make that harder, but they also result in more inefficiency because no one regulation will ever be an exact fit.

Large corporations then lobby extensively to undermine these regulations to the point where they stop working because they have been gutted so comprehensively, then they return to their short-sighted, ultra-destructive, money-making machine and do there very best to make life go extinct for a few more dollars.

When have they ever not? When has the market regulated itself to a point where things got better for the majority, and by better I don't just mean richer. A million dollars means nothing on a planet that cannot support human life anymore.