The article is about PPP, which gave out forgivable loans in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to businesses and self-employed individuals. The total cost of

The article is about PPP, which gave out forgivable loans in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to businesses and self-employed individuals. The total cost of this was about the same as the direct payment stimulus checks, but went to about 10m borrowers rather than the ~150m who received the checks. As for your anecdotes, it was sort of the point of giving people money that they would spend it, "stimulating" the economy. It was not intended to become a nest egg or to satisfy some cosmically appropriate amount of money for an 18 year old to have. It's macroeconomic policy, not moral policy. In many cases, the cost of doing means testing so you don't accidentally overpay someone you think is undeserving is more than the amount saved.