>They've been getting more expensive by a few percent a year. It would be better if they didn't change at all but it's the best we can do. The change so far has been small and predictable. Predictable change is the next best thing after no changes.
You seem to think that predictable change is still pretty good, so why would it so problematic if change year over year was negative, but still predictable? Imagine all prices, therefore including wages, decreased on average by 0.2% from today until the year 2100 given a fixed money supply.
Where would the difficulties arise in such a scenario? If humans can plan for increasing prices, they can also do so for decreasing ones. Plus I'd argue that for prices to fall is the natural dynamic in a flourishing economy: if we're getting better and better at producing things due to improvements in social organization and technology, why would things end up costing more?
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Klaus Schwab's predictable change is code for incremental control, disguising tyranny as stability.
> You seem to think that predictable change is still pretty good, so why would it so problematic if change year over year was negative, but still predictable? Imagine all prices, therefore including wages, decreased on average by 0.2% from today until the year 2100 given a fixed money supply.
Yes predictable change is still pretty good but better predictable increase than predictable decrease. That's why there are target inflation rates of like 1 or 2%. Decreasing prices encourage people to defer spending until later and that leads to a recession and downward spiral and then it's not predictable anymore and the economy will tank in no time. That's why central banks are so worried about deflation. It's better to err a bit on the side of inflation.
> Plus I'd argue that for prices to fall is the natural dynamic in a flourishing economy: if we're getting better and better at producing things due to improvements in social organization and technology, why would things end up costing more?
If we're getting better and better then we should consume more or work less. You can only eat so many loaves of bread but your next vacation can be on Hawaii instead of the campground around the corner. Or the baker that has somehow managed to automate their bread making will still sell the same number of loaves at the same price but work 4 hours a day not 8.
Mind you in addition to what I wrote above, you can't get predictable decrease in prices with a fixed money supply. It'll be unpredictable wild swings.
