So there really is a such thing as deflation.
Sure is. It's what made the Great Depression --what made the deflation that made the depression is another long story. It also began the '09 crisis but that one was stopped after a quarter or two.
Reason deflation's bad is because when anyone runs a business or gets a job & buys a home he finds falling income crashing any chances of paying back the loans. Massive bankruptcies and bank failures. We used to have massive double digit deflation for a year or two followed by double digit inflation all the time --then with the '30's fiasco we finally quit the silly gold standard.