1) Sure, but that stimulus is not the money that went directly to people. I'm not entirely clear on whether you were making the distinction previously, but far

1) Sure, but that stimulus is not the money that went directly to people. I'm not entirely clear on whether you were making the distinction previously, but far too many people (some deliberately, most, I think, not) blur that line, and talk about the total stimulus when referring to the number (because it's big) and when referring to societal effects (because they're measurable)—but then turn around and talk about the individual stimulus payments as if they were all or a majority of that when talking about how we shouldn't just be handing out money to people, etc. 2) I did propose a better explanation: Coincidence. Two data points that look similar, in a situation like this, is not enough to make coincidence particularly unlikely. 3) The most likely explanation for that seems to be that, because of the pandemic, we're not doing a lot of the things we were normally doing before. My family certainly isn't: we haven't taken a vacation since winter 2019, and we've cut out many of our previous habits that a) cost money, and b) put us more at risk for COVID. Now, I believe my family is fairly far toward one end of that spectrum, but I also believe there are enough people who have cut out at least some stuff (and not put it back yet) that it is, at least, a highly likely explanation for the phenomenon you cite there.