I really couldn’t take anymore bad news by 2pm so I lay down to take a nap. Apparently, it did not help. When I awoke, I learned that we had the worst day on Wall Street since Black Monday in 1987, the NCAA cancelled March Madness, Major League Baseball cancelled spring training and postponed Opening Day by two weeks, Broadway shut down, and my son’s soccer club is shuttered until at least late March. Strangely, his school has so far refused to follow suit even though nearby districts are closing.

It looks like Mitch McConnell realized that it would be bad politics to go ahead with a week-long recess under these circumstances. But that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily going to do anything. After all, he opposes the bill the House Democrats have drawn up.

Given investors’ avowed desire for a policy response — and Donald Trump’s abiding concern for the well-being of the stock market — it always seemed more likely than not that McConnell’s purported plan to tackle coronavirus after recess was a negotiating tactic. The Senate Majority Leader might have felt that the threat of a full week of inaction would be sufficient to force Democrats to cave on increasing Medicaid funding, or requiring employers to foot the bill for paid leave. But even as a bluff, McConnell’s stance was insane. It’s hard to imagine a more politically toxic talking point than, “Democrats may want to take immediate action on this public health emergency, but the Republican Party believes it is entitled to a weeklong break before tackling such a demanding project.” And anyhow, it’s unclear why threatening a delay would give Republicans leverage; as the party in control of the White House, the GOP has far more to lose politically from a deepening economic and epidemiological crisis than Nancy Pelosi’s caucus does. Evidently, McConnell now understands this.

It’s clear that no one has any confidence in President Trump, but today’s drop in the stock market shows that people have no faith in the Federal Reserve either. Overall, the Fed promised to pump over a trillion dollars into the economy and it did not stop the slide.

I found this article helpful for explaining the merits of shutting everything down. You might want to share it with any skeptics you know. But, even if it makes sense, I don’t know how we can avoid a massive contraction of the global economy. Maybe this will be a chance for this country to come together for a change. It’s the only hopeful thought I can offer right now.

As for my mood, I slapped on Napoleon Dynamite, and I feel better already.