The government is not chartered to make money, but that's frequently a side effect of lending and equity. You can see the numbers here from the last bailout:

https://projects.propublica.org/bailout/

The government handed out $634B.

The government recouped $390B + $364B = $754B.

So, $120B profit. Again, I'm not saying we should bailout corporations and ignore the little guy. The stimulus checks are critical. But you can't compare them dollar for dollar.

It's not profitability for profitability's sake. It's a positive number on a budget balance sheet. At the end of the day, they have some kind of budget to spend on stuff. The sum of the expenses has to fit the budget. If this comes out as a net positive, they can spend more elsewhere, like on unemployment benefits or schools or whatever else they're planning to need money for in the future.

> The sum of the expenses has to fit the budget.

Is this actually the case? They have a money printer. What’s the problem with using it, as long as inflation stays low?

I mean, I suppose technically seigniorage is part of the budget but then your statement is just a statement of definitions, not an insight.