> Avoiding bank runs and the collapse of financial institutions is a pretty massive social benefit, even if it does turn into "bailing out wall street" memes.

In the immediate crash, I agree, but in the years after as QE kept being needed to stabilize the system, there were other choices. There could have been a different program to inject money directly to the people who took out mortgages, requiring lenders to take a principal write down at the same time. This would have left more wealth in peoples hands, instead of funneling more wealth and assets into bank hands. And in large part it was fear of deficits that prevented consideration of these options.

The argument isn't to "government spend way more money", it's to make a more balanced consideration of how we actually use the power of currency for beneficial purposes in the long term.