Yes, I think most people who are paying any attention to either inflation rates or the economy know that an inflation rate of 2% does not imply deflation. And

Yes, I think most people who are paying any attention to either inflation rates or the economy know that an inflation rate of 2% does not imply deflation. And there is no finish line, this is an infinite game, not a finite one. Lastly, wages are also up over the last three years (that’s a huge driver of inflation!). Obviouslyy not evenly distributed, but I don’t think you can make the case that real wages are sharply decreasing (especially once you remove the weird outlier spike that 2020 gave us): https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q