They have to lower prices because people won’t have the cash.
The Fed doesn’t want deflation either, i.e. for prices to decrease rather than increase. Deflation could also set off a bad spiral: why by a toaster today for $30, when you’re confident it will be $25 in a week, or $20 in another week? When people generally expect prices to go down, they refrain from buying things, which forces sellers to offer even lower prices, etc.
So the Fed aims for 2% inflation, where prices will increase each year but only relatively slowly.
The Fed doesn’t want deflation either, i.e. for prices to decrease rather than increase. Deflation could also set off a bad spiral: why by a toaster today for $30, when you’re confident it will be $25 in a week, or $20 in another week? When people generally expect prices to go down, they refrain from buying things, which forces sellers to offer even lower prices, etc.
So the Fed aims for 2% inflation, where prices will increase each year but only relatively slowly.