Everyone old enough to comprehend the news had to know it was coming. After all, we knew about the more than 25 million added to the nation’s unemployment rolls, the plummeting industrial production index, the collapse of oil and gasoline prices, and the fact that our favorite restaurants were closed for dining in. Most of us probably could not think of many friends or family members who were still working normal hours in their normal location.

But when the Department of Commerce announced -4.8% as the first estimate for 2020’s first-quarter GDP growth, we knew the 2020-2021 “Command Economy Recession” was officially launched. Yes, let’s call it a command economy, because that is what it turned out to be.