Also, slight, but mostly consistent inflation is far better for everyone than what the US went through in it's first 150 years as a country.
The average American household is worth more than $1MM and the median is close to $200k. All time highs, even adjusting for all the inflation.
This is the same thing - when you go to the bank to get a loan, the money is created out of thin air. It simply appears in a database. It is not the money someone has deposited in the bank. The only reason the bank has to keep reserves is for stability in case of bad loans.
It is strictly not. All money is borrowed. This seems like free/unlimited printing when the interest rate is 0%. But when the interest rate rises, this has real consequences and you can't print your way out of a 5.5% interest rate.
This is why US politics got heated about finance as of late. If inflation doesn't come down, the US will have to "print" that money. Essentially rendering the Fed to the likes of Pakistan, Turkey and Argentina.
The benefit of mild inflation, to phrase what you wrote a little differently, is that it encourages people to create assets with substantial intrinsic value as a way to dispose of currency. Everyone wants to own as little currency as possible. There are many positive externalities to asset creation.
I disagree.
This 2,5% is just pocketed by yhe central bank.
People shouldn't be penalised for saving money.
"Oh, but just invest it!"
With investment comes risk. Why shouldn't people be allowed to save without risk or having their savings melted by lost purchasing power through inflation?
Inflation is a hidden tax and theft of those furthest from the newly "minted" money to benefit those that are closest to the source i.e. banks and large borrowers.