You're correct! I used stimulus checks as an umbrella term, but it's not correct. But I meant all the measures that pumped a lot of money into the economy. Here in Italy loans were frozen for 2 years which equals to a much bigger injection.

It was like $5T in total stimulus.

No but $500k PPP loans all over the place probably did affect the economy.

Didn’t those mostly just mean that people kept getting their same salaries?

1200$ x 320 million americans = 1 trillion dollars [1]. Meanwhile less work has been produced.

[1] It’s the official number, not a mistake or a ballpark. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-106044

Where did the other $616 billion dollars go?

That’s the problem with the governments.

When supply remains the same or declines at the same time demand goes through the roof through a combination of lockdowns and helicopter money (as the other commenter points out, government sources show nearly $1T in direct payments), big time inflation happens.

Said inflation is most likely the biggest culprit behind this (or upcoming, depending on how you define it) recession. Disposable income is evaporating and people are adjusting their purchasing behaviors. After all, who wants to buy anything they don't have to, when they feel that everything is so much more expensive than it should be?