Tangential question, as I am not an economist and don't pretend to understand any of this: what would happen if the stock market didn't recover? (Surely, it could happen? Past performance is no guarantee of future results.)

The economy would effectively collapse, and I imagine our currency would be mostly worthless. People would withdraw what they could from bank accounts, which wouldn't be able to produce all the funds, so FDIC insurance would kick in, effectively printing money, but the economy has collapsed anyway?

^ That's just my intuitive speculation. I can't really grasp the scenario of stocks never recovering. Anyone with some education/background have a good explanation? (Not sure I want to trust AI with this question.)