MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle: The markets finally realized the economic crisis is linked to the health crisis

MSNBC market expert Stephanie Ruhle told Brian Williams on Wednesday that the reason Americans saw the stock market fall this week is that they have finally realized that things aren't getting any better.

Williams asked if the numbers this week are different from normal pre-election years.

"This is quite different," said Ruhle. "The markets have woken up to the fact that this health crisis is directly linked to the economic crisis. The markets can't thrive when we don't have a national plan to deal with the coronavirus. And you look at the GDP, you know that tomorrow, you led the show with it, the president is going to say, 'We're back, baby! With the greatest economy ever.' That's not the case. We have been seeing improvements. We are on the road to recovery. But even if we get 30 percent, 35 percent GDP, which would be positive, it's far from saying we're back."

She noted that 30 percent would only be about half as far as we fell when the pandemic recession began.

"For the millions of people that are still out of work, for 1 in 5 small businesses that are closed for good, and people that aren't getting another stimulus check or enhanced unemployment, they're not investing big, and that will drag down the economy going forward," she closed.

See her explanation below: