Bailouts for big companies owned by the rich, $2k paycheck (if lucky) for the rest.

This comparison is unfair. The cost of just the first stimulus checks was ~269b[0] and the second ~ $464b[1] and these are the lower estimates I've seen. For comparison the 2008 bailout cost ~498b[2][3], possibly less after the government made some of it back. So no, the government isnt spending more on bailouts for the rich than on covid relief for the rest.

0. https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2021/01/what-to-know-about-the-sec...

1. http://www.crfb.org/blogs/how-much-would-2000-checks-cost

2. https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/heres-how-much...

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troubled_Asset_Relief_Program

>government made some of it back

Government or the people working for the gorvernment?

Government.

During previous financial crisis, the government bailout was in form of loans, and buying assets for pennies on the dollars (that government ultimately made profit on). The people getting $2k check, no strings attached, are getting better deal than Wall Street.

Much ink has been spilt on both these disasters, a lot of it completely dishonest. Regardless of government actions, K shaped recoveries appear to be fairly typical for this society and this era; one should expect that the upper classes will recover quicker and better than the lower classes. Cheering on financial collapse in order to hurt the rich is a great example of cutting off your nose to spite your face; most of the pain will be felt the strongest and longest by those you are nominally rooting for.

Agreed, a financial collapse is not good, and I’m not arguing in favor of it. My point is that, at least for this crisis, most people (and probably the economy as a whole too), would have been better off if the government had given money only to individuals. People would have then “voted with their pockets” and the money would have circulated according to what people needed, boosting the economy “organically”.

As a side note, as it has been painfully obvious this past year, the stock market is not the economy - however, it seemed like the government focused on saving the stock market instead of the economy.