>It's based on the flawed assumption that consumption is automatically good and savings is automatically bad.
There is no such assumption. We have interest rates that moderate the imbalance between saving and investing. Low interest rates indicate a lack of investments. If there were investments, companies would scoop up 0% interest loans until rates must rise again.
If there were too many investments interest rates have to cut funding for the least worthwhile investments.
>Saving money is investing it
As I said above, the interest rates indicate otherwise. 0% interest rates only happen because people aren't investing the savings.
>That could be via stocks, bonds, bank deposits (which get loaned out), etc.
Those are not savings.
>I have yet to see a single compelling argument as to why an arbitrary 2% target is superior to say just a 0% target.
Because people age and die. Gold is just a shiny token representing an imagined ledger. If you have gold from 1000 years ago someone in 2021 owes you a debt. For the sake of the argument lets say the economy today was still the same as 1000 years ago. You decide to "save" your gold and spend it 1000 years later via a time machine. The person that owes you one ounce worth of work is long dead and he stayed unemployed for a month because of you. The physical asset that is represented by the ledger is gone but there are still workers alive in 2021. Even though they have nothing to do with the old dude 1000 years ago, they are the ones who owe you a debt now.
It's absurd. One month of work was lost to unemployment but gold is supposed to keep its value by demanding one month of work from an unrelated person.