Slightly off topic, but talking about absolute price levels does not make much sense to me. Let's say V goes down, because consumers have discovered the value of thrift and are storing cash under their mattresses. Prices then should come down, to reflect the new economic reality, send signals to decrease production etc.

Then, if money is unexpectedly debased, absolute price levels may not change, but they would go up relative to where they should have been. Contracts still end up being distorted. People with cash under their mattresses still end up with their holdings devalued.

I wonder, if one had the task of building an economic system from scratch, if they would come up with the current system or with something else. The current system seems like a mess of patches upon patches, many heuristics, and is not very philosophically sound.