How is it different? Squandering typically means spending, which means the money is re-entering the economy, typically to people at lower rungs of the wealth ladder, and is not much different than other forms of redistribution.
Unless you mean the squandered billions was through literal setting piles of money ablaze or losing it all in a poker game to bigger billionaires, it seems if redistribution was the goal then squandering should be encouraged.
in terms of usage, if I say "people should buy what they need and on top of that they should not spend (lest they find themselves spent)" you know exactly what i mean. Especially expensive items are spendy. Spend carries a connotation of waste and exhaustion. Save and invest your surplus, don't spend it, don't spend your savings.