I don't deny that they often abuse their power of printing money but it seems to me that it is still rather a lopsided view to indiscriminately blame the government for every wrongdoing. After all, it was the financial (banking) sector that had created the subprime mortgage crisis in the first place, not the government itself. You could of course say that they should have interfered but it is free market, isn't it?
In this analysis, we have to view the state and the banks as an alliance to jointly benefit by issuing financial assets and propping them up. E.g. the asset bubble that led to the mortgage crisis was inflated not just by banks, but by bankers working hand in hand with a coalition of political entities. It's not just the narrow interests involved (such as those wanting an increase in home ownership by minority groups,) but asset inflation benefits all politicians because the 'free' wealth lifts the entire economy, job base, investor base for public debt, and tax base. (At least until, hopefully, one leaves office!) This is why the 2nd most popular narrative about that crisis is that Fannie and Freddie (the de-facto public lenders) had a major hand in the bubble too.
As I implied above, top bankers and politicians are generally in alliance, not in competition, unless assets values totally collapse. 'Free market' vs 'bank regulation' is just a story for the public, in the big picture. The only honest way to regulate banks is, as Austrian economists maintain, either 'totally free banking' or '100% reserve banking.'
Further, the fiat inflation is eventually offset by the growth in wages since otherwise there wouldn't be economic growth. I agree that inflation takes away from the purchasing power of a currency, but in the long run some balance gets established unless external factors such as wars are at play.
This is where things get so complicated that you can pretty much argue any position and no one can say you're definitely wrong. The problem is with the complication in the first place (created by the state intervention in financial markets.)
The argument against socialism (either the Soviet type of economic socialism or the Western financial socialism) is always that, power corrupts, and the incentives of power are always to benefit those who hold it. Complexity and the impossibility to analyze cause and effect are part of the power wielded by the state-bank elites.
The 'otherwise there would be no growth' part is not something I can agree with. Growth comes naturally from the market economy simply because we all want better products and services. What we have in the modern West is unnatural (perhaps too-quick) growth, which creates all sorts of problems, including environmental disaster and personal unhappiness.