From the Center for Investigative Reporting in PRX, this is Reveal.

I'm Alexan and I don't need to tell you.

We are living through some scary times that most of us never imagined could happen.

So I'm standing outside my house right now and my neighborhood is normally pretty busy

this time of day.

It's family friendly pulsating with life but now there are hardly any cars on the road.

The absence of little kids laughter, it's eerie.

It's like we're all trapped in a story and not reality.

I'll admit it's easy for me to go there because I read a lot of post-apocalyptic stories.

The one that stands out in my mind right now is Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler.

It's about the collapse of society and a woman who forms a community out of the remnants.

You know, the book makes it clear that when the world is falling apart, well it's not

just one thing, it's all the things.

In this era we're in, that feels true.

As we grapple with the medical crisis surrounding COVID-19, there's also the financial one.

We are going into a global recession.

This is worse than 2008.

This is worse than 1987.

In fact, we anticipate the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression.

Now we all hope it doesn't go that way, but many of the world's leading economists believe

we could be facing the worst crash in close to a century.

That's despite Congress passing a $2.2 trillion stimulus package.

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