The United States is an unrivaled economic powerhouse. It accounts for 4% of the world’s population yet captures a whopping 24% of the world’s gross domestic product—the total value of goods and services produced by a country in one year.

Many predicted that West Texas Intermediate crude oil could trade as low as $15 a barrel during the Saudi-Russia price war. Some even speculated it could hit $5 when figuring in the demand crater due to the global pandemic. No one predicted this. There simply isn’t a proper word to use here — unprecedented, catastrophic...