10 Most Important News Stories of the Decade

Here’s my selection for the 10 most important news events of the past decade.

 

1.      9/11     It changed us as a nation and as people.

 

2.      2000 Presidential Election.   The closest presidential election in history came down to maybe 300 votes in Florida.    There were recounts, accusations and court cases, but no tanks in the street , a true testament to our Constitution and the people of the United States.

3.      The election of the nation’s first African-American President.   Just 50 years ago, blacks were fighting and dying for the right to vote.  Barack Obama’s election was a milestone in the history of our nation, made even more significant by the fact that his top competitor for the nomination was Hilary Clinton, and his opponent in the fall selected a woman vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin.

 

4.      .War in Iraq.   George W. Bush’s fateful decision looked so easy in the first weeks.  Mission Accomplished.  But not hardly.  Thousands of lives, hundreds of billions of dollars, and corporate pilfering in the name of security – and all for a trumped up case for weapons of mass destruction that never existed.

 

5.      The bankruptcy of General Motors.   So much a symbol of   American industrial and economic strength that in the 1950s, the Secretary of Commerce said, “What’s good for General Motors is good for America.”  GM fell victim to globalization and its own monolithic inability or unwillingness to adapt.  The collapse of the world economy sealed its fate 

 

6.    Corporate greed.    Enron, World Com, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Arthur Anderson, and for gosh sake Martha frickin’ Stewart.  Sub-primes and credit default swaps.  Hundred million dollar bonuses and golden parachutes.   Greed and corporate cheating were everywhere and Wall Street ran amuck.  Then in 2008 the house of cards tumbled, nearly bringing down the entire American economy.

 

7.      War in Afghanistan.  The forgotten war has become America’s longest war.  And as the decade draws to a close, tens of thousands more American soldiers are destined for the “graveyard of empires.”

 

8.      Tsunami.  The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami devastated coastal villages, towns and resorts from Indonesia, to Thailand and India, to Madagascar and west coast of Africa.  In its wake it left an estimated 230,000 dead, the deadliest tsunami in history.

 

9.      Katrina.  Never could we have envisioned a great American city crumbling before our eyes.   Even worse, thousands of people were left in the ruins, without food, water or sanitation – and it took four days for the federal government to organize and get help to them.

 

10.    Anthrax attacks.  Following so closely on 9/11, we suddenly found postal workers, Congress and news agencies being attacked by traces of white powder in seemingly harmless mail.  The anthrax attacks raised the annx of  the entire nation.  We were at risk in our very homes, our offices, in the routine of just opening the mail.  No longer were we  secure.

Comments

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There have been studies and some attempt to create tsunami waves as a weapon. In World War II, the army in New Zealand trialled explosives in the area of today's Shakespear Regional Park to create small tsunamis, an attempt which failed.

[Joanna]

Man I would put the Tsunami maybe 3-4 spots higher. I can never forget the disaster that struck us all when it happened...people were simply devastated...and when I saw those waves...damn :|