> Inflation is already almost zero in much of the West. Not sure about the USA, but real inflation is closer to 7-8 percent in Europe, wage growth falling behind.

"Unbiased private-sector efforts to calculate the real rate of inflation have yielded a rate of around 7% to 13% per year, depending on the locale — many multiples of the official rate of around 1% per year" https://www.businessinsider.com/if-people-knew-the-actual-in...

In my country (Hungary) grocery prices rose an average 38% from last year for example.