[adam_arthur]

It's basic math. Society lost x in purchasing power through lost wages via unemployment, and you inject 10x in stimulus, what do you think is going to happen?

This was Larry Summers' argument, backed with real numbers. Nobody passing these bills ever considered whether it was too much. You have the two top economists for both Clinton and Obama saying it was too much and being outspoken about the issues with how the bill was constructed. I don't know where current politicians lost all economic sense along the way, but it was the zeitgeist of the moment to spend as recklessly as possible

All they had to do was replace lost income for unemployed, and leave pretty much everything else untouched and things would have been fine. No need for debt forbearance, because you've supported income for those who lost their jobs. But needs to be structured such that incentive to return to work.

Now most of the impact of the stimulus will be destroyed by inflation

[Shocka1]

You've made some really great points in all your comments thus far that I 100% agree with, especially with current politicians losing all economic sense. Even the once budget stubborn Republicans signed away. I have no citations, but my theory about this is that the American society as a whole is foaming at the mouth for instant gratification. It feels as though we're thinking of the weekend instead of years ahead... That, combined with a high percentage of economically uneducated politicians that seem more like social media influencers than actual lawmakers = not well thought out economic decisions.