It seems like the whole financial system depends on the time delay between people agreeing to get a certain salary/price and then actually getting paid and spending it. By the time they actually get paid, the money is actually worth less than what they had originally agreed to. It seems that large corporations should be able to make a profit on that delay alone, even if they produce nothing of actual value. I guess it explains why huge powerful corporations like Apple and Amazon always ask for money up-front and then delay payment to suppliers for as long as possible. Seems like a vulnerability in the system.