What they call “deflation” is really a very very good thing.
But for statists, it is bad. It makes the much-discussed “economic indicators” go down, which small minds equate with declining prosperity. In a similar way, inflation is thought to be good, because it makes the numbers go up, which the uninformed think is a good thing.
In order for deflation to not be a problem, the currency has to be worth something. A fiat currency makes things a mess.
All I know is that stupidity pays
Statists and other economic ignorami believe that expansion is inflation is expansion. They cannot conceive of other than a zero sum game. There is not real expansion of production. There is no more wealth in the world than there was a thousand years ago. In order for a society to be more prosperous it has to steal the wealth of other societies. Inflation is a tool to that end. Leftists are almost uniformly zerosumists and thus must accuse the richer countries of stealing from the poorer ones. But they do not decry the inflation that they think accomplishes this because it also transfers the wealth of the society to the rulers and bankers which is a primary goal of the left.
There was actually a slight deflation through the nineties, the increase in money supply did not keep up with the increase in goods and services. The result was that peole like me that saw little or no increase in nominal earnings were not feeling continually pressed because the dollar was buying continually a little bit more. Major industrial strikes which had been the norm in the 80s and 70s did not happen in the 90s as workers, even union workers did not feel that they were falling behind. It was a good time.