The economic devastation was baked into our system by the Federal Reserve and the financial meddling it has been doing since inception. What the Federal Reserve does is transfer real wealth from the masses to the elite by manipulating the money supply and distributing free cash to the elite who then buy up assets and cause the value of the dollar (which the masses hold and are paid with) down. So if you work for cash you just got another pay cut without even knowing how much because the dollar amount per hour goes up but your purchasing power goes down. And the amount of inflation is hidden in the randomly increasing cost of an infinite amount of products so it becomes impossible for you to independently calculate.

The Federal Reserve system is nothing more than a complicated way to subjugate the masses through financial manipulation. That is the cause of the recession; soon to be depression. It is a necessary part of making the system work. The virus is nothing more than a convenient excuse. That is why it is being over hyped now that they decided to use it, while it was being downplayed in January when they had not yet decided to use it. Or perhaps in January they didn't want there to be an effective response to it which could have nipped it in the bud.