For some reason markets going up is fine but when they inevitably decline sharply this is viewed as 'disorderly' and the Fed prints money to keep asset prices high. The Fed ensures that hedge funds have counter-parties to buy their toxic overvalued assets.
It's now clear that our economic system is run for the benefit of corporations and hedge funds.
I can't imagine what would happen if you gave every citizen 10k. I would think there would likely be something akin to a revolution that may or may not result in a more robust economy. What the gov't is doing by giving so much money to existing companies that have already failed vs individuals with the possibility of failing is very much protecting the existing social structure of society.
Corporations like these are a hierarchy that generate implicit social striations in our society. By maintaining this regardless of the fundamental success of the product or competence of the management, they act only to preserve the class structure enforced by the institution and thus the stability of society in a configuration with marginal utility as regards productivity.
They're clearly ensuring their own future.
Hierarchies are still important, but now they're just training wheels in many instances.
Maybe all in the short term, but, this stimulus is specifically looking to avoid short-term discontinuities.
That said, I'm a big fan of corporate stress tests and capital buffers as well. I'm not a fan of debt-fueled share buybacks, but, I understand them as a response to a system that allows them.
The $1200 that people are getting is tax-free.
only if you haven't been paying attention