America was stirring with opportunity at the beginning of 2017. Disrupter, energizer, and businessman Donald Trump had just been elected president.

After years of Obama-Biden economic malaise, businesses small and large were eager for the Trump economy to restore America to its best, richest self. Markets responded, gaining hundreds of points within days amid record-high trading volume, and a marked uptick in optimism — the knowledge that America’s best days were still to come.