The stock market crashed in March, wiping out a large part of the gains from one of the longest market booms in US history. Since then, about 40 million jobs have been lost in the country — losses that dwarf the worst months following the great financial crisis of 2008.

But in a remarkable twist, just as the pandemic was battering the lives and livelihoods of working people, the stock market has rallied. In April, it recovered about one-third of its losses in what has been its best month since the 1987 crash.

The Federal Reserve has played a pivotal role in the revival of financial markets. The Fed’s swift and extraordinary intervention in response to the pandemic is even more remarkable when we contrast it with the faltering, fumbling response of the US state to the humanitarian and public health crisis.