Interest rates are low because inflation is low and central banks are irrationally terrified of even mild deflation, fearing some sort of hypothetical deflationary spiral (despite a complete lack of precedent). And since the rate of technological progress is increasing, and technological progress creates deflationary pressure, they have to work extra hard to keep up.
Tell me, when was the last time you stopped buying milk because you noticed housing prices coming down? Or stopped buying cars because you notice that coffee is getting cheaper? Hell, when was the last time you stopped buying coffee when you noticed coffee getting cheaper?
We really need to start challenging the idea that mild inflation is the only acceptable monetary policy. At the very least, when considering the scariness of some degree of deflation, we should use an inflation metric that excludes consumables (as proven in repeated rounds of econometric studies that consumable items have no decrease in purchasing rates during downward pricing trends, and in fact have statistically significant increases in purchase rates).
Tell me, when was the last time you stopped buying milk because you noticed housing prices coming down? Or stopped buying cars because you notice that coffee is getting cheaper? Hell, when was the last time you stopped buying coffee when you noticed coffee getting cheaper?
We really need to start challenging the idea that mild inflation is the only acceptable monetary policy. At the very least, when considering the scariness of some degree of deflation, we should use an inflation metric that excludes consumables (as proven in repeated rounds of econometric studies that consumable items have no decrease in purchasing rates during downward pricing trends, and in fact have statistically significant increases in purchase rates).