The coronavirus pandemic is putting an end to the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. Policymakers and economists warn this recession will be unlike any other downturn.

After expanding for a record 126 months as of December 2019, economists now predict GDP growth will plummet in the first and second quarters of the year as businesses shutter and hundreds of millions of Americans are locked down.

"This is a huge, unprecedented, devastating hit," former Federal Reserve Chair Ja