Depends how bad the deflation actually gets. If you are living within your means currently and don’t have a crazy high mortgage with an equity loan to boot, most can probably get by; it will be tight to be sure, but they could manage by getting rid of cell phones, cable, eating out, entertainment and learning to cook more prudent meals at home.
I have one of my cars paid off, the other working vigorously to do so, but if it came down to it, I would turn in the second vehicle to the bank and just focus on my home and property and staying fed. Sucks for me, then again, I know I am nowhere near in bad as shape as others out there with normalcy bias not even paying attention to what is going on.
Quote by Marie in the movie "The Jerk" after they lost all their money:
Marie: I don't care about losing all the money. It's losing all the stuff.
One of my wife's brothers was hitting me up for a $100G loan. Says he needed it to get by. Of course I said no. He always traveled first class on planes. Season tickets to the Giants and Sharks games. He, his wife and kids traveled extensively to the best hotels, and ate continuously at restaurants, and were in debt dozens of ways. Me, my wife and kids always tried to save money, and spent sparingly and have no debt whatsoever. Well he and his wife went bankrupt, and they still go to restaurants and stores every day. And of course, complain continuously about their bad luck of being poor. Well, it ain't bad luck if someone is a moron.