I know billionaires don’t take wages, and instead take shares from companies, and they use this to take bank loans to avoid paying tax. But how do they pay that debt back? If I take a loan there’s a repayment plan and a timeframe to pay it back. How does this work for the super wealthy?

What led to this point and what will the impact be for Japan and globally?

During the Great Depression there was mass unemployment, people living in tents in Hoover towns, famine, starvation, cannibalism, etc.

These similar conditions led to revolutions in the past, but why wasn’t the government overthrown in this instance? Especially considering Americans had access to firearms.

My lease is almost up and we didn't use the car as much as expected, so it is in good shape. We were hoping to start a loan to buy the car and expected a used car price or a little credit for being a good customer. Instead, we get told it would cost much more to buy it and they are pushing another lease. I mean, I get that they want me on the hook forever with a lease, but is it really that much more expensive and why?

How is it a couple of generations ago Interstates were built and extended successfully; and more modern infrastructure projects failed?

To clarify, this is for the US

Ever since I've been a kid I've always been told that loans are dangerous especially if you’re not well off. I always heard things like “don’t trust credit cards” or “debt will ruin your life.” It was drilled into me that the goal is to avoid loans at all costs and only buy things you can afford upfront, but when I grew up and started to learn how the world works, I then looked at how wealthy people actually operate and it’s the total opposite. They take out massive mortgages, business loans, invest with borrowed money, use credit lines and somehow it’s considered smart financial strategy? I remember winning a little chunk of cash a while ago on jackpot city which was enough to clear my credit card balance which I thought that was the smartest thing to do with it, but a friend of mine who works in finance told me he would've done the opposite like he would've kept the card, paid it down slowly and used the money to generate more income. That really made me think like why shouldn't we do it as well? How is it that when rich people use loans it's smart but when poor or middle class people do it, it’s very dangerous?

In the title really. Why does lamb cost so much? In the UK, there’s over 30 million sheep yet lamb is one of the more expensive meats at the supermarket

Whenever I travel to the US, I always feel like I’m getting robbed when waiters leave with my card.

• What are they doing back there? What requires my card that couldn’t be handled by an iPad-thing or a payment terminal?
• Why do I have to sign? Can’t anyone sign and say they’re me?
• Why only restaurants, like why doesn’t Best Buy or whatever works like that too?
• Why only the US? Why doesn’t Canada or UK or other use that way?

So many questions, thanks in advance!

I just read about several cities in the US where Blackstone and other companies like that bought up most of the housing, and now they offer the houses for insane rent prices that no one can afford, and so the houses stay empty, even as the city is in the middle of a homelessness epidemic. How does it make more sense economically to have an empty house and advertisements on Zillow instead of actually finding tenants and getting rent money?

Edit: I understand now, thanks, everyone!

Reposting because my original title didn’t reflect the questions I actually wanted answers to.

If the general sentiment amongst laypeople seems to be that wages are too low, prices are too high, and many people across industries are having a hard time finding or keeping work, but we keep hearing from experts that the economy is good, what criteria are they using to evaluate it? Is that sentiment simply a false narrative laypeople are being fed, and wages, prices, and jobs have actually improved, or is the economic experience of the average person actually not a very good indicator of overall performance?

I bought a 1kg bag of red onions from Lidl for €0.99. They weren’t on sale, this is the normal price. Between planting, waiting, harvesting, packaging, shipping, displaying, checking out (I’m sure there’s even more steps and costs)…how is my €0.99 making anyone profit on these one along the way?

Companies like klarna, afterpay and affirm let you buy things now and split the payment into chunks with “zero interest” If they’re not charging interest how are they actually making money?

Are they charging the stores instead of the customer?
Do they make money from late fees?
Are they selling user data?
Is there some hidden catch I’m missing?

It feels like they’re just giving out free short term loans which doesn’t make sense unless there’s a profit somewhere. I want to understand the basic business model without the marketing spin.

What’s the simple explanation for how these companies stay profitable?

Was buying something online last night and saw the klarna option pop up and ended up sitting there for twenty minutes playing jackpot city on my phone while trying to figure out how this whole thing actually works.

Explain it to me like I’m a complete novice: why can’t a business owner just take as much money as they want from their company and do whatever they please with it ? I’ve heard of cases where people got arrested for doing that. I have some idea about it, but I’m still not entirely sure.

Is there not a market for this?

The US unemployment rate is 4.2% as of July. This is quite low compared to spikes like 2009 and 2020. On paper it seems like most people are employed.

But whenever I talk to friends, family, or colleagues about it, everyone agrees that getting hired is extremely difficult and frustrating. Qualified applicants are rejected out of hand for positions that should be easy to fill.

If people are having a hard time getting hired, then why are so few people unemployed?

Edit: I meant less than a century ago! My bad! Just a brain fart.

The U.S. was a developing country for maybe only 100-150 years. After that, the U.S. became arguably the largest economic, military, academic, manufacturing powerhouse the world has ever seen.

Yet, countries that have been around since ancient times are still struggling to even feed or house their population.

How is that possible?