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You're missing the point. There is no inflation taking the no automation stage as a baseline.

I.e. the scenario is workers spending $X of their employer granted salaries on goods they produce vs spending $X of basic job salaries that machines produce

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No, I’m not. You’re making a very simple argument of an extremely complex issue. That only holds up in a world of unlimited resource. As long as energy and raw materials are finite, the above does not hold.

More importantly, you’re conflating two things: we needn’t necessarily print money. Let’s presume your comment were correct. Nonetheless, in the absence of such monetary policy, consumption would plummet and deflation would reign. Thus, it is still inflationary.

Again, you are missing the point. Yes, it is inflationary, but the inflation caused will not be the end of the world. As you admit, most of it will simply counteract the deflationary effects of unemployment and full automation.

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