It's strange that nuclear devastation for small businesses was never been a consideration during previous recessions.

Then the narrative was always "Cyclical recessions happen - deal with it." Followed by "And how about some tax cuts?"

Beyond that, your question is a solved problem. The answer is called Keynesianism, also known as the New Deal.

Handing out money for nothing is clearly madness. But there is a lot of work that needs to be done, and isn't being done - including affordable health care, infrastructure repair and expansion, more diverse food supplies and farming, education at all levels, and so on.

None of this will happen with the current incumbent, but countries that don't make the leap from a greed economy to a need economy are very likely to end up as failed states within ten years at the outside, economically and politically.