This was not the welfare state of old. Handed out to everyone below a certain income level, this was “welfare without the welfare state”—cash support, free of any intrusive, prescriptive, bureaucratic, paternalistic state apparatus.33 It was the kind of welfare that Milton Friedman might have supported, a stepping-stone toward a universal basic income as advocated by figures like Democratic Party candidate Andrew Yang. There were all sorts of things you could do with your stimulus check. You were free to choose.
