> In the UK it is very hard not to look at it this way. Unlike the US and other countries, Covid stimulus was very much aimed at maintaining the status quo: there were no flat amount universal basic income style checks handed out to everyone as in the US - instead you got put on 80% furlough and had a large part of your salary paid for by the government. This basically meant the rich got ever richer whilst doing no work and the poor tried to scrape by. In addition, covid contract schemes were widely abused by business owners, the most high profile case being that of Conservative peer Michele Mone who made off with £200 million. It is estimated that billions of pounds of public money has been irretrievably lost through what is essentially government neglect and corruption.

It was the same in most EU countries, but wouldn't that result in lower inflation? The rich that kept getting richer would invest in stocks, business, real estate, park it offshore, buy another helicopter or yacht, etc. which wouldn't impact demand for most products whose prices are increasing.