Oh yeah no, I absolutely agree: I don’t think the government should try to maximize shareholder profits, so I’m all for governments helping to fund projects in transit, education, and other industries to help people recover from the pandemic (and even come out stronger than they were before). What I wasn’t too sure about was specifically about printing money, since I didn’t realize @Phil was joking 
Before I get to Owen’s post, though, the inflation-on-purpose thing I’m worried about is based on one of the 3 arms of Japan’s Abenomics initiative. That’s different from the period in history I’ll talk about below.
I think artificial currency control was absolutely a part of it, too. Dollar-yen conversions were fixed at 360¥ to the dollar after WWII instead of being subject to market forces. This currency manipulation totally helped Japan get back up on its feet, not be tempted to become an ally of the Soviet Union, and (re)build lots of walkable developments and rail lines.
But that was a postwar effort that took four decades to bear fruit. I think public transit infrastructure is still an important (sometimes literal!) foundation to a resilient economy. But I’m not sure if the economic tools they used then are helpful for us now, especially when serious investments could also get the job done?
Click here for a fun fact about Japan's postwar boom!
Lots of Japanese people look back on the 70s and 80s as the golden years -but the asset bubble burst in the 90s and made the Japanese economy stuck in a rut. Since I was born in 1995, everyone there who’s more than 20 years older than me say that I’m a part of the “lost generation” with pity. This economic gloominess is said to have affected more than the economy, but also people’s splurging habits, sexuality, and willingness to travel abroad.