"Give the money to the people". The US did this in the form of tax credits for housing. Germany did something similar in the form of credits for car purchases. This form of giving goes directly toward an industry in need. I'm not sure how giving a blanket check helps. If the problem is consumer spending and IF this is an important driver for your economy it may have some impact but I think the problems the EU were facing were not this. So giving money to the people just sounds like dangerous populism and an action that makes little attempt to rebalance some ailment in the economic system.
But at the moment we end up subsidising the banks with our money so they can make more money at our expense
If you want to kickstart economies then expecting banks that are up shit creek due to their past lending and investment practices isn't the way to do it.
The way to do it is give people money to use as they wish and not pick favourite industries.
If people save the money it increases banks capital ratios, if they pay off debt it reduces the banks loan book, if they spend it it may increase inflation through consumer prices.
Some people might even use it as capital to create a new business.
Our current bank focused model of QE does none of these things.
It doesn't help at all. We did that in the US with George Bush's 2008 tax rebates. Getting a check was nice, but I'm pretty sure the economic boost was smaller than the cost to the government.
