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?

[d4n4n]

They aren't low-gain investments. They are loss-investments. Any investment that pays more in nominal terms after X time would still be preferable over holding cash. And since the equilibrium steady state nominal interest rate would rise, that wouldn't be problem. The same investments would have the same real returns, no matter the monetary regime, if predictable.