Deflation would be lots of fun for people who are rich. Instead of having to invest their fortunes in order to maintain them, they could literally sit on a mountain of gold and it would accrue wealth by simply existing.
(note: not saying anyone's promoting deflation. Didn't read enough of the thread to determine that. Just wanted to pop in)
Technically, if it was deflation, sitting on a mountain of gold would be a bad idea, as the gold wouldn't be gaining value with respect to the money. It would be a mountain of money they'd be sitting on.
Anyhow, realistically, no rich person in a deflationary economy would keep their money under the mattress/in a cave/buried at the bottom of a mineshaft etc, they'd put it in a bank, which in turn would actually support the economy.
Besides that, a rich person in an inflationary economy is even better off, as he has the benefit of receiving the newly printed money first, meaning he gets all the benefits of free money without the downsides of higher prices. He can dump his money in the stock market and outpace the inflation on goods that the suckers at the bottom of the printed money pyramid have to shoulder.
Of course, deflation isn't really a good thing in of itself either, but it's not necessarily a bad thing under certain circumstances either.
Not only GDP growth, but long-lasting increase in standard of living. Per capita real income increase by 4.5% per year during that time period in Brazil. As for Korea, even a blind fool can see that it grew tremendously in all the relevant way during that time period.
Now, of course if you're just going to disregard all facts (Or 'Drawing meaningless statistical connections is pretty meaningless' as you call it) I'm not sure why I'm even bothering talking with you. Why bother with facts when we got Glorious Theory, amirite?
Also I'm not sure why you're bringing the Great Depression in there. I'm not arguing that capital cannot be mallallocated (you only have to look at present-day China for a prime example), just that moderate inflation doesn't cause such problem.
Okay, well if you want specific analysis of Brazil and South Korea, I can do that too.
Brazil is pretty simple. Yes, there was quite a lot of
short term growth in Brazil in the 60s and 70s. However, the result of this was a veritable collapse in the Brazillian economy in the 1980s which necessitated gigantic economic reforms. The boom of the 60s/70s led to the spectacular bust of the 80s, which is more or less how I said such policies end up working. I'm honestly surprised you would use them as an example, actually. Unless you're missing the point of what I'm saying entirely, I guess, in which case I'll clarify:
inflation and artificially low interest rates can create massive short term growth, but it will inevitably end with a similarly massive bustSouth Korea is a bit more complicated. After the Korean War, the Korean economy was built around the Chaebol, family owned corporate conglomerates with state backing in the form of tariffs, subsidies, cheap credit, and so on (think of the Zaibutsu in pre-war Japan). In the 60s, the Korean government basically worked overtime negotiating good export deals for these Chaebol with other countries, which generated impressive economic growth. This worked for a time, when cheap Korean goods were exported throughout Asia, but it promptly ran into trouble when it ran into competition from South East Asian countries able to produce the same goods at similar prices without subsidies. As a result, nearly all of the resources of South Korea were channeled into providing credit for the Chaebol, while the rest of the country hopelessly fell behind (South Korean farmers weren't much better off than their counterparts in the North in terms of technology or even living standards). This was followed by a parade of coups and political turmoil, as well as a gigantic collapse in economic growth. Finally, the system was completely reformed in the mid 80s, with the easy credit being cut off and banks being privatized, allowing for those not connected to the Chaebol to actually receive credit. This also marked the end of the massive inflation that had characterized South Korea in the past. Mind, the reforms were not absolute and the Chaebol system basically continued well after the 80s, but that's another story for another time.
The state of South Korea's system is actually quite interesting, so
you can read about it yourself if you're interested and not just grasping for "facts".