The fed buying assets is not the same thing as giving away money. A better analogy would be "why not lend money to people instead of businesses?". Here the ans

The fed buying assets is not the same thing as giving away money. A better analogy would be "why not lend money to people instead of businesses?". Here the answer is more clear: people are not in need of someone to give them loans. If you need a loan, you can probably get one.