There were economists warning back in 2008-2010 the dangers of it.

Despite the Fed being “independent” they are under enormous pressure from the government.

The prediction was that when it was time to stop printing money the Fed wont do it fast enough since the political pressure to keep the economy going will be too high.

Pretty much exactly what happened.

Nah. Fed president of that time was stupid enough to continue QE until 2014

I think without the stimmy checks, loan deferments, liquidity injection, etc the lockdowns could not have been implemented, so many people lost their jobs or couldn't get revenue, the only way to keep them somewhat compliant was a bribe. Could you imagine telling people not to show up for work for months and not sending them any money/compensation? That would be a rebellion. Remember, in the beginning of the pandemic staying home was a lot of fun, especially if you had a corporate job that was now operating out of your PJs, the stock market mania was a real time source of entertainment.

I know small business owners who were not retail facing who just working right through the pandemic lockdowns without stop because they couldn't afford to stop operations.