To be clear, I use inflation in the technical (correct) sense of the term: increase in the supply of money. Consumer prices in the US fell through the 19th C, being lower in 1914 than they were in 1800. This is due to economic productivity outstripping the rate of creation of money. It shows how bad things are now that despite the productivity of the US, government is printing money so fast prices rising at over 10% annualised.