We, as a society, are now experiencing a crisis of trust. The three pillars that we've had faith in all our lives — institutions, government entities and the media — have all failed us. From trusting financial institutions to guard our assets to expecting politicians to enact smart policies to hoping the media informs us on issues truthfully, we've entrusted these institutions to have the public's best interest in mind and to provide crucial guidance in times of crisis. Instead of witnessing any of that, we have seen politicians, government agencies and the media fail catastrophically in the critical, early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the few reasonable voices offering practical advice coming from Silicon Valley — insiders sounding "five-alarm fires" from their personal social media accounts.

As they say, history has a way of repeating itself, and if we've learned anything from the financial crisis of 2008 — which bailed out the wealthy banks and left a large swath of the population struggling and jobless — it's that the centralized institutions put their own interests in front of ours.