A deflation would be a disaster. Paying back the huge private and public debt with dollars increasing in value would be catastrophically imposible. They will inflate, but the question is how?
Everyone is betting on the Fed and Treasury monetizing the debt by buying back bonds. This may not be the best and this may not be enough. IMHO, we are about to see something that hasn't happended for fifty years --the Fed will buy gold and flood the market with free floating dollars. Then the foreigners and others will want to sell their bonds and those will be bought up with fiat dollars as well.
Other than a big jump in production and productivity, there doesn't seem to be much of an alternative. They will inflate, but again, how is the question. Somehow they have to do it without precipitating a currency devaluation war where there is a cascading rush to the bottom.