The fed has been "helicoptering" money for years, but it has only been this year, when there have been real and substantial breakdowns in the supply chain and labor markets, than inflation spiked so much.
Was the same with OPEC in the 70s, Zimbabwe, Weimar Germany - in all those cases there was a major destruction or restriction of supply capacity, not just money printing.
In 2009 inflation actually collapsed for example and that was a supply side collapse far bigger then this year.
> The fed has been "helicoptering" money for years
They have also enacted major counter measures and the pure amount is no longer really a good description of policy. Around 2009 or 2010 they started paying interest on reserves. The CB has a number of tools.
Remember, the Fed is buying $120,000,000,000 of bonds per month.
That’s well beyond a helicopter’s capability!
This is part of the complexity in modern central banking that people don't seem to understand. Many of the things you might have learn in school about how central banks operate are no longer the case.
If cash actually flows depends on many factors.