Not the first time that the U.S. energy sector has been decimated. The last time didn’t collapse the national economy and this one won’t either.
Energy prices will recover some when the global economy picks up and the Russia vs Saudi Arabia pissing contest ends. That may not revive fracking because the Saudis and Russians have a mutual interest in keeping us out of the production market.
“Another month of the US economy being shuttered will put us in a hole that will take years to climb out of.”
It’s going to be a V-shaped recovery. It will take a year at most to sort out. People are eager to get back to work. Lenders will have an interest in keeping their clients alive, most won’t foreclose. The $1,200 may not sound like much but it will keep demand from collapsing.
This isn’t what Depressions are made of. It’s a recession that will come to a sharp end when the virus is over.
Of course this isn’t the first or last time the energy sector has seen bad times. This is very different however. Never has the energy sector tried to recover in an environment of 30% unemployment. Never in the history of this country have we seen 40 million people seeking work. This virus avoidance will have a final price tag of 10-15 trillion. Good luck with a V recovery in that environment.