As I understand it, when people talk about the government "printing money" they don't mean literally producing more coins and notes (M0) but rather something me

As I understand it, when people talk about the government "printing money" they don't mean literally producing more coins and notes (M0) but rather something metaphorically equivalent. For every $1 in notes and coins, there are about $30 in bank deposits that exist as a number on a spreadsheet somewhere. So instead of actually printing more, when the central bank "prints money" it means they edit the number in their spreadsheet, increasing their own bank balance. Then they spend that balance buying things like government bonds and treasury bills (which also exist only on spreadsheets)