The 2010-2020 decade highlights reviewed
Matt Murray, editor in chief of the Wall Street Journal, wrote the introduction to an 18-page special section in the Wednesday edition. It’s devoted to the 20102020 decade.
He summarized some of the highlights — good and bad — that made news in the period.
Here are some of the newsworthy occurrences in that time bracket:
Donald Trump won the presidency, unemployment fell to 3.5%, Britain decided to leave the European Union, Facebook became more valuable than General Electric, AT&T and Citigroup combined, the U.S. became the world’s No. 1 energy producer, same-sex marriage became the law of the land, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series,
big tech became even bigger and China kept rising – in both cases causing a backlash. The economy grew, slowly but steadily, but the financial crisis left an imprint on our politics and society.
Murray wrote that the review doesn’t attempt to recap every major event of the 2010s.
“Our aim is to provide some food for thought, a distilled reflection on key trends and moments that defined the decade and will set the stage for the next one,” he said.
Here are some year-by-year headlines the WSJ included:
2010 — Apple takes a big gamble on iPad, Obama signs Health Bill into law, Iceland volcano halt Europe flights, Dodd-Frank passes.
2011 — Arab Spring, border closings, quake and tsunami slam
Japan, space shuttle era comes to an end, Steve Jobs dies at 56, battle flag comes down in Baghdad.
2012 — Disputed win gives Putin third term, Facebook’s IPO sputters, space-chase billionaires, Hurricane Sandy hits coast and floods New York, Obama wins re-election, China’s new boss Xi Jinping, Newtown shooting.
2013 — Deadly blast rocks Boston, Dow closes above 15,000, Edward Snowden tries to spark national debate about surveillance, historic win for gay marriage, the heroin epidemic hits small towns,
Twitter goes public.
2014 — Ukraine president driven from power, Malaysia Airlines jet goes missing, Putin signs treaty to annex Crimea, U.S. restores Cuba ties in historic deal.
2015 — Apple to join Dow Jones Industrials, Volkswagen dodged emission rules EPA say, Theranos has struggled with its blood-testing tech, global agreement on Climate Change. Fed raises rates after seven years near zero.
2016 — Britain votes to leave E.U., Facebook under fire, DNC hack prompts allegations of Russian involvement, Wells Fargo to pay $185 million fine, marijuana gains at the polls, Facebook under fire.
2017 — Dow closes above 20,000, Trump withdraws from climate deal, Amazon to buy Whole Foods, Hurricane Harvey slams into Texas, Equifax reports huge data breach affecting 143 million consumers, Hurricane Maria hits Puerto Rico, Las Vegas shooting, Harvey Weinstein takes leave of studio, sweeping tax bill heads to Trump.
2018 — Dow 25,000, Steve Wynn scandal, Parkland shooting, Trump to impose aluminum and steel tariffs, AT&T closes Time Warner deal, CBS chief resigns, California wildfire.
2019 — U.S. charges China’s Huawei, U.S. grounds Boeing MAX jets, Disney buys Fox entertainment assets, Hong Kong protests, Pelosi announces impeachment inquiry, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, step aside.
And there will be a huge bounty of prime news in 2020. You can count on it.