For many, March 12 was a moment of dismal clarity. The stock market suffered its biggest drop since the Black Monday crash of 1987. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced that it would generate $1.5 trillion in short-term loans to calm the financial markets. In Washington, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were about to conclude their negotiation of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act. It wouldn’t be nearly enough.
