On the monetary side it's hard to say which would have been better. There were people in debt, so keeping deflation at bay was important. Then again, even if 0.1 percenters bought these, overall cost of living and consumables would be cheaper, and debt is generally dischargeable, so you could argue keeping deflation at bay wasn't really to protect the debtors but the debt holders.
All said, well considered fiscal stimulus years ago would have been most directly beneficial to "the public" among all measures.
If a good chunk of the population is doing it it becomes less stressful. It's not like the alternate route (the one we took) has been stress free either.
All said, well considered fiscal stimulus years ago would have been most directly beneficial to "the public" among all measures.