Zero interest rates also meant construction was cheap. The fact that we didn't construct anything using them was the problem. Higher interest rates are going to make that worse unless we have more public housing investment.

It's important to realize that the GOAL of the Fed was to raise inflation, but since they can't create money (only change rates and bond terms) it affected primarily financial assets... so we have had financial asset inflation since the dotcom boom (and entry of China into WTO) because of the Fed mandate. For long term growth we should have spent money (eg on broken bridges and infrastructure), but that requires congress to allocate funds so instead it was all monetary (and tax cuts).

The only thing I would add to your comment is that it was all on purpose. As you note, the inflation was on purpose. But also the not repairing our infrastructure. That was on purpose too. It was the greatest wealth transfer from the common people to the wealthy that has ever happened in the history of the planet. The biggest mistake people make is believing this was all just "incompetence." Mistakes of this magnitude are not made innocently.