A financial process that played out over a century

The dollar used to be backed by gold and convertible into gold. That promoted stability and faith in the value of the currency.

The process of removing that link started during the Great Depression. It was completed during the Nixon administration on August 15, 1971:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_shock

The next day the stock market saw its biggest daily gain ever to that point — because the markets perceived that the “stimulation spigot” could, going forward, be unlimited.

It took time for the politicians and the financial authorities to dare to take advantage of “unlimited.” Slowly they moved toward more and more profligacy. Every economic and market downturn emboldened them. After 2008 they finally got really carried away. That’s why we now have such indebtedness and such high inflation.