It's soo funny, cause this thread is filled with people that believe what they're being spoonfed. Deflation ? ROFL THAT DOESN'T EXIST, THERE IS NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD THAT DOESN'T PRINT MONEY ON A CONSISTENT BASIS. For every piece of paper that is printed, for every increase in the money supply is a decrease in the purchasing power of any individual in a given point in time.
Well, there are two definitions of inflation/deflation. One is monetary inflation/deflation which has to do with the amount of money. There, you are right that all monetary assets are inflationary, in the sense that more and more of them are circulating.
But most of the time, by inflation/deflation, people mean the average price level, that is, the purchasing power of a unit of monetary asset. Now, then you get discussions over "purchase power of WHAT ?" of course. There's a whole bunch of baskets which can be used, and you can discuss until the sun becomes a red giant what basket should be used. Should investments be included in the basket ? Should only end consumer items be included ? Is it the Big Mac index ?
It is not impossible that the price level decreases ever so slightly of a consumer basket. Even in a monetary inflationary situation.
We haven't yet witnessed 20% deflation levels. When we are talking about 1% levels, the errors and the exact definitions introduce actually more variation than anything else.
Price deflation is in principle possible with monetary inflation if the velocity decreases (which means that people or institutions hoard more money), if the economy grows, or if there is more import than export (which means that more money is exported).
Now, as a characteristic of the US $, M2 inflation is of the order of 7% a year, but economic growth is not 7% a year. This would mean that the difference should end up as price inflation. It doesn't. So it means it gets into some vaults, or it gets exported.
And that's exactly what happens. The US $ is the only world currency that is capable of being printed for free, and being used abroad to get goods and services (mainly oil). Without those dollars coming back. At least for the moment.
That's thanks to Bretton Woods and Nixon.
With that free seigniorage which is taken as a tribute from their "allies" who are supposed to accept $$, the US gouvernment mainly keeps up the most efficient military power on the planet (which would render any other economy totally crippled). And with that military power on the planet, the US government makes sure that dollars continue to get accepted.
So "allies" of the US actually finance their own submission, by financing the war machinery that keeps them submitted.