I am wondering, based on your example, in times of a pandemic such as the one we're going through right now or in times when the economy is severely disrupted, if not with the printing of money out of thin air, is there any way we could possibly maintain liquidity and keep the economy floating?
Yes. They could just let things go. The weakest company would sink good one would continue to work (and profit on reduced competition). Lockdown last 1-3 month (depending on country). If this is enough to destroy company maybe it wasn't strong enough? Maybe it was wrongly managed? Printing is simply taking money from you to those who leave on the edge of bankruptcy to give them extra year (in most cases). I wonder if people would be ok with that knowing that it is similar to taking 5% from your bank account and pure it into corporations.