Regarding only #3, Banks can afford to give out loans that are less than inflation because they are creating money out of thin air to lend to you. Sure, the le

Regarding only #3, Banks can afford to give out loans that are less than inflation because they are creating money out of thin air to lend to you. Sure, the lent money is collateralized behind a property but it’s new money. It doesn’t really matter how much of a return they get as long as the return is higher than the default rate percentage and the return (after factoring in defaults) is positive. There used to be restrictions like a 10% reserve ratio. But that’s been lifted in the US in 2020. Big banks can also borrow money from the central bank to lend out. Current federal rate is 2.25%-2.5% and mortgages are about 5.9%. Thus banks keep the interest rate spread. Using those numbers, a $300,000 loan at a 30yr fixed rate is a bank product that will thus earn the bank $178,959.73 in interest. No wonder banks are the most wealthy class of businesses!