and ballooning of the money supply. Covid was an excuse for the absurd closing down of the economy, the deficits and the "printing of money", but that didn't have to happen. It was irrational and those artificially suppressed interest rates have distorted the economy for a very long time. It has resulted in a misallocation of capital that still hasn't been accounted for.
Look at the M1 money supply chart:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1REAL