Okay - I'm going to explain this, but I want you to really try to understand, and not just be a contrarian to me.
Prior to 2008, a bank would request money from the Fed. The Fed would create a ledger credit in the amount of the loan to the bank. So, you're correct that this money is "out of thin air," in that it didn't exist before the bank asked the fed for the loan. That practice has been going on a very long time, and it increases the money in circulation.
But the bank owes the Fed the money, and must pay it back, and, as it does so, the money in circulation is reduced
After 2008, however, thee Fed has done something that it never did before. Now, it simply creates money that it then uses to buy hard assets, and, specifically, U.S. bonds. It literally is creating money out of thin air and then using that money to buy government debt. That is the modern day equivalent of a government simply printing more money to pay its bills. It's Weimar Germany, Zimbabwe, and so on. It's banana republic behavior. This is why the Fed's balance sheet is at 4 trillion dollars while it was only at 800 billion in 08 when this mess really got going. The 3.2 trillion it has added in the last 6 years represents 1/2 the U.S. budget. It's a disaster in the making.
So the 'money out of thin air' metaphor is appropriate to the last 6 years.
