Keeping Americans at home and sending them checks seemed to do wonders for their balance sheets. For more than a year they had higher savings and a drop in their debt burdens. But eventually those same policies also sparked 40-year high inflation. And now household are falling further into debt, according to data from the NY Fed. Especially during the last few months, as credit card debt has been going up and savings are diminishing. It shows fixing financial health is not just a matter of sending everyone money. That can only make the problem worse. 

Source: New York FED

Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow her on Twitter here.