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Twelfth of 12 posts with an illustrated decade-by-decade timeline for the years 1900 to 2021. For more on the timeline and a link to the book on Amazon, see here. This post is available as a video at https://youtu.be/_oO4KKqpRgM.

2010-2021

This post is a teaser, not the full text for 2010-2021. (Actually, the timeline runs into 2022, but I can’t change the title on Amazon at this point.) Members of my mailing list received PDFs of the whole text, decade by decade. To join the free email list, drop an email to DuranteDianne@gmail.com. More info here.

Among the events of this decade:

• 2010 The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is the most significant change in healthcare since 1965 (creation of Medicare and Medicaid). It expands Medicaid eligibility, requires private insurance companies to accept all applicants without charge for preexisting conditions, and requires all individuals to buy insurance or pay a fine.
• 2011 Osama bin Laden killed by US forces in Pakistan.
• 2012 The US ambassador to Libya and 3 other Americans in Benghazi are murdered by militant Islamists. The Obama administration (incl. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) is accused of covering up security lapses.
• 2013 Rise of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), a group of militant Islamists. By 2015, ISIS controls parts of Iraq and Syria, with outposts in Africa and Asia.
• 2013 Edward Snowden leaks highly classified National Security Agency information re global surveillance programs by governments and telecommunications companies, fueling a debate about national security vs. privacy.

• 2016 Great Britain votes to withdraw from European Union (“Brexit”).
• 2016 Wikileaks (est. by Julian Assange, 2006) releases many private emails, incl. some related to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. Clinton’s supporters say Wikileaks was fed false information by Russia.
• In 2019, Trump rescinds the fine for those not buying Obamacare.
• 2019 ISIS is defeated by a 74-member coalition that includes the US, France, Russia, and some Muslim states.
• 2019, Dec.: The COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) spreads worldwide from Wuhan, China. It is declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. Lockdowns lead to widespread supply-chain disruptions, shortages, and the worst recession since the Great Depression.
• 2020, Apr.: Trump signs Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, providing for billions in one-time cash payments to most Americans, increased unemployment benefits, forgivable small business loans, loans to corporations, and grants to state and local governments. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill will increase federal deficits by about $1.7 trillion in 2020-2030.

• 2020, May-Jun.: Black Lives Matter (est. 2013), which protests police brutality and “systemic racism”, has its largest demonstrations ever following the 5/25/2020 death in Minneapolis of George Floyd in police custody. BLM protests over the next month involve an estimated 15-26 million people nationwide, many of whom ignore government-instituted COVID-19 regulations such as social distancing and masks. Although some protests are peaceful, in NYC, Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, and elsewhere, rioters torch buildings, loot stores, and vandalize property, causing an estimated $2 billion in insured damages across the US. By November 2020, at least 25 people have died in the riots. Some blame the violence on infiltration of BLM by “antifa”, a loose collection of left-wing anti-fascists / anti-racists / communists / socialists / anarchists that emerged after the 2016 election.
• 2021, Mar.: Biden signs the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, part of his Build Back Better agenda. Includes longer unemployment benefits, more direct payments to individuals, emergency paid leave, tax increases on large corporations and wealthy individuals, grants to governments, and funding or subsidies for education, housing, agriculture, cybersecurity, healthcare, pension funds, and transportation. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill will increase federal deficits by another $1.9 trillion in 2020-2030.
• 2022 Russia under Putin invades Ukraine to “demilitarize and de-Nazify” it.

• Economics. The 2010s sees a steady increase in the value of Bitcoin (first issued 2009) and other cryptocurrencies. In 2018, partly due to a shale oil boom, the US becomes the world’s largest crude-oil producer for first time since 1973, surpassing Russia and Saudi Arabia. In 2019, for the first time since 1957, US produces more energy than it consumes.

• Transportation. In 2008, the first Tesla electric cars go on sale. In 2020, SpaceX is first private company to send humans into orbit.

• Medical. In 2019, 11.3% of Americans (37.3 million) are diabetic (Type 2, adult onset), up from 8.8% in 1988-1994. Diabetes ranks 8th in causes of death in the US.
• Genetics. 2012 Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier publish the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9.
• Books. Among the top 10 bestsellers each year are books by several of these authors: John Grisham, Stephen King, Danielle Steel, Nicholas Sparks, Michael Crichton, James Patterson, Tom Clancy, Janet Evanovich, Dan Brown.
• Visual Arts. The sculpture controversy: in 2015, following a shooting at a black church in Charleston, SC, by a white supremacist (9 dead), national debate arises over the display of the Confederate flag and memorials to Confederate leaders. In 2020, following the death of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter protesters haul down or deface outdoor sculptures associated with the Confederacy, incl. the sculpture of Robert E. Lee in Richmond. Rioters also deface or pull down sculptures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Miguel de Cervantes, Mahatma Gandhi, Andrew Jackson, and others. (My 2017 essay on the sculpture controversy is here; other essays about it on my site are here.)
• Architecture. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s Burj Khalifa, Dubai, completed in 2010, is currently the tallest building in the world at 163 stories and 2,717 feet.
• Film. Of the 25 top-grossing films of the 2010s, 40% feature characters from Marvel (Avengers, Spider-Man, Captain America, Black Panther, Thor, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Black Widow). Avengers: Endgame is the highest-grossing film to date.
• TV. Popular sitcoms include How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, and Modern Family. Drama: Bates Motel, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Homeland.

• Music. Top-selling album artists (in descending order) are Adele, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, and Rihanna. Psy’s “Gangnam Style” (“K-pop”, South Korean popular music), 2012, is first YouTube video to reach a billion views.
• Musicals. Spiderman: Turn off the Dark. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton: An American Musical wins 11 Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and sets box-office records for ticket sales.

Feedback I’d appreciate from you on the PDF of 2010-2021

• Have I listed all the most significant events for this decade? Space is limited and there’s room for disagreement, but do tell me if you think anything important is missing. In case you want to add events important to you, I’ve allowed some blank space on every set of facing pages.
• I have not read all the books I mention nor listened to all the musical styles. Are any of the facts or descriptions wrong? Corrections welcome.
• I’d like to include major events in areas such as education, psychology, Supreme Court decisions, and sports. If you can boil down those or similar fields to a half-dozen significant events from 1900 to 2021, send them to me and I’ll try to work them in.
• Of course, point out typos, bad grammar, messy syntax, and so on.

More

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