This is a decent answer. The other subtlety is that "money" as defined by you and I isn't just the money printed by the Fed, it also includes the liabilities o

This is a decent answer. The other subtlety is that "money" as defined by you and I isn't just the money printed by the Fed, it also includes the liabilities of the banking system (primarily deposits, and in some cases financial paper etc). So there's public money (Fed), and private money (banks etc). Part of the reason the Fed can print so much public sector money in a recession without it being inflationary is at the same time, private sector money supply is contracting. When you see interest rates on corporate bonds, commercial paper, and the implicit rates of return on equities all spike, that's telling you that there's a (moderate) run on the private sector money system. The Great Depression was really a combination of a private sector money contraction, along with tight policy (a reduction in public sector money). The hope here is that we can balance those forces out, and specifically paper over the COVID hole with printed money. So far, deflation seems like the primary concern not inflation. Negative oil prices etc.. Will that be the case further out, will we turn into Japan in 1995 with zero rates forever, or Germany in 1920 and totally trash the currency, well, that's the billion dollar question.