Why do massive companies (who are insanely profitable) have so much debt?

They know fiat currencies will always trend to 0, so they generate profits from having a negative position (instead of holding dollars, they owe dollars to someone else).

They are shorting the dollar, meaning they are profiting from the downside.

Shorting something means you profit when it decreases in value.

If you short Apple stock, you sell it today and plan to buy it back later when the market value has dropped.

When the value of the dollar trends to 0, anyone that takes on debt benefits because the amount they have to pay back is worth significantly less in real terms.

Oversimplified example:

If you borrow a $100,000 interest-only loan with a 3% interest rate and the money supply is increasing 10% per year, you are making a 7% profit by taking on debt.

The real value of your debt has dropped to ~$35,000 (a $65,000 decrease) after 10 years but you paid only ~$30,000 in interest... meaning you earned ~30,000 in profit by borrowing money.

The nominal value is $100,000 + $30,000 ($130,000) but in real terms you are only paying back ~$65,000 because you are paying back the principal when the value has dropped!

Have you noticed that more companies are issuing credit cards?

Tim Hortons, Walmart, and even various airlines, all offer credit cards, but they aren't banks.

They also have debt.

They are making money from the spread.

They borrow dollars at 3% to run their operations and rent money to their customers at 20%, earning a 17% spread from their credit card business 🤯

The fiat currency system is designed to keep increasing the money supply, and this is one of the ways that it happens!