So, observationally? I totally agree. this is what has <i>happened</i>  -  but for the last few years, both sides have been shouting scare-stories about either hyper-inflation or serious deflation,<p>(and personally, I&#x27;d argue that the right, screaming about hyper-inflation has been more wrong than the left, talking in a much lower voice, and in a more academic way about deflation, but both sides have been saying that scary things will happen if we don&#x27;t act... it&#x27;s just that the left&#x27;s worry is that we&#x27;d turn out &quot;like Japan&quot;  - which seems fundamentally realistic, while the right talked about Zimbabwe, which doesn&#x27;t.)<p>But, the point is that what &quot;seems likely&quot;  for the last few years, if you were to listen to the pundits, was movement in one direction or the other, not idling along in neutral like we&#x27;ve actually been doing.   It&#x27;s only been very recently, I think, that the right has given up on the idea that we&#x27;re going to get massive inflation our of our borrowing and money-printing.