The money being given out now is a sugar high. It goes away.
The money doesn't go away, it circulates throughout the economy. The better the circulation, the healthier the economy. Unless of course, you bury it in the backyard or hide it under your mattress. Most people don't, they either spend it or invest it.
Taxes have to go up to pay for that debt for people and business. This reduces purchases, hurting companies and raising unemployment.
The money taken in by the government thru taxes or borrowing though the sale of bonds is not hoarded under a mattress or buried behind the Capitol. The money circulates back into the economy thru government spending. It may be spent on infrastructure project payments to contractors that recirculate the money thru worker salaries and purchase of supplies and equipment or it may go to retirement benefits which are then recirculated into the economy thru purchases for living expenses or it may be spent on thousands of other things which are of more or less benefit to the population as a whole, depending on your priorities and point of view.
I attended public schools, obtained further education from a public library, traveled to them on public roads, enjoyed leisure time in public parks and facilities. Much of it was built during the height of the Great Depression. Our public health system worked to prevent the spread of infectious disease. All of that and more were the result of government spending, paid for by taxes or borrowing. Investment in education and learning has helped to create smarter more productive workers and more creative inventors. Investments in transportation helped workers and goods get to where they needed to go promoting commerce. Investments in public health helped to insure that people were well enough to work and go to school.
All to say, I'm entirely behind the idea that government should be both efficient and effective in spending that promotes conditions in which both individuals and the society in which they live can grow, prosper, and achieve in a healthy sustainable manner. I think you would have a hard time finding many that desire inefficiency, ineffectiveness, or spending that does not benefit the public interest. The problem is that individuals will disagree on the best methods of paying for it all and what the priorities should be for spending. That's why we vote to express our views.
Debt burden is of concern to individuals, businesses, and governments. The over simplified narrative, that taxes remove money from the economy and thereby damages or reduces it, is all too easily sold to voters thru continuous repetition over many years and has been a major factor in the inability to elect a sufficient number of representatives with a sensible balanced view towards tax and spending policies. By sensible and balanced, I mean a willingness to raise enough tax revenue in an equitable fashion to provide for necessary and beneficial investment in our people and their public interests. Having too many representatives who refuse to consider any tax increases of any kind on ideological grounds and are unwilling to cut spending due to political considerations are a major roadblock to debt reduction.
In the 20th Century, government regulation helped to break up monopolies that seek to crush competition and block innovation that threatens their monopoly. And after a long history of boom and bust economic cycles which culminated in the Great Depression, government regulations to reduce fraud and establish guardrails to reduce speculation assisted in a long period of economic growth and relative stability; at least until the 90s when those regulations were chipped away by members of both parties.
I think a balanced viewpoint would see government's role in economic matters, in general or more specifically economic interventions that result from public health issues like the current pandemic, as neither inherently helpful or harmful. It has the capacity to be either one. Viewing the matter thru the narrow lens of any ideology is not helpful in finding a healthy balance. Pragmatic investment, combined with reasoned compassion, and a view toward long term public benefit would be far more helpful in making progress.
* This thread seems to be drifting into political matters. Perhaps discussions like this belong on the other thread.
