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The Internet
Topic: Work exchange and Technology The internet made a major advancement in the industry. The internet made communication and many other aspects of industry easier. The internet also allowed more globalization of market economies. This increased productivity and also changed the market some with more global prices. This only became easier in the 2000s with more advancements of handheld devices and the level of technology in general. -
Terrorist attacks
Topic: US and the world. Two suicide bomb boats almost take down the docked USS Cole in Yemen -
Election of 2000
Topic: Politics and power A very close election between Al Gore as the Democrat and George W. Bush as the Republican candidate. Candidates fought for independent and moderate voters with Gore for the working families and George W Bush as the compassionate conservative. Election was very close and had to be settled by the supreme court. Gore won with 500000 more votes nationwide but due to Ralph Nader Bush won Florida and the electoral. Election became very controversial until Gore surrendered. -
No child left behind
Topic: Politics and power No Child Left Behind aimed to help students that were not as well off by testing children and offering transfers to better schools, funding stronger reading programs, and training high-quality teachers. -
Health Reforms
Topic: Politics and Poewer Republicans also offered people enrolled in medicare to transfer over to a private insurance company. Congress also gave senior citizens prescription drug coverage. Criticized by Democrats as a coverup to give insurance and drug companies profit. -
Foreign policy
Topic: Power and politics Bush had little experience so he surrounds himself with veterans of previous Republican administrations. Elects vice president Dick Chaney and General Colin Powell to Secretary of state. Bush's aggression was liked by many but his administration alienated other nations. -
Tax Cuts
Topic: Work exchange and tech George W Bush implements tax cuts as congress had a budget surplus. It was spread over ten years and lowered the top tax braket slowly eliminated estate taxes and increased child tax credit. Limited IRA and 401k contributions and gave immediate tax rebate. -
9/11
Topic: American National Identity 4 planes crashed into the twin towers. Resulting in the death of 2996 and leaving over 25000 injured. This sparks a strong sense of nationalism against ISIS and other terrorists in the middle east. -
Anthrax
Topic: Enviroment Soon after 9/11 the US experiences another supposed terrorist attack but this one was completely different. This attack was biological with letters laced with anthrax spores being sent to various people in the US.This left 5 dead and 17 injured. -
Fighting terrorism
Topic: America and the world The US sided with Israel which received much backlash from the Arab world. The Anti-American hate could be traced back to long ago from the westernization of Arab countries which was not liked by religious officials. Islamic extremists started to rise like Osama bin laden. Due to political and economical conditions extremist recruiting was easy. -
Axis of evil
Topic: America in the world President Bush in his 2002 union address used the phrase to describe Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as evil countries. This idea was mainly from the hate made by the 9/11 attacks that terrorists in both Iraq and Iran. -
Homeland security
After 9/11 people felt like they needed more security so president bush made a series of homeland security acts that tightened the security in airports. This also tightened the border and various other ways that people could get into the US. This made illegal immigration harder. -
Anti War protest
Topic: Culture and Society While many Americans had a very strong hatred for the terrorist after 9/11 there were few who felt that war was not the best option or they quickly felt that the conflicts in the middle east had become not worthy. In 2002 people started protesting against the conflicts in the Middle East. You can see this protest through various music and there was group protests. -
Tech Boom and more
Topic: Culture and society and Work exchange and technology Tech boom peaks in 2000 and ends in 2002. The stock market crashed with Dow Jones down by 38%. The unemployment rate climbs to 6% and the number of people living in poverty increases.
Scandals by companies. Federal reserve drops interest rates to 1.5%. This causes people to make a new bubble and invest into real estate -
Bush Doctrine
Topic: America in the world The Bush Doctrine was a doctrine that told other countries that if they were found to be terrorists then it was the US's responsibility to stop that country to protect the US. This was mostly aimed at countries that were suspected to have something to do with 9/11. -
More tax cuts
Topic: Work exchange and tech Bush implements a tax cut for stock dividends, capital gains, and married couples. Criticized by democrats because it helped the top 5% and doubled the national debt. -
Mars Rover
NASA successfully launches two rovers onto mars. The rover's mission is to explore Mars. The rover's names were spirit and opportunity. -
Social Media
Topic: American National Identity Social Media becomes a vital aspect of American culture. Many Americans start spending their time on places like Facebook or myspace. This starts Americans being seen as more lazy and useless as they now spend a lot of time arguing over the internet. -
Election of 2004
Topic: Politics and Power The election of 2004 was between Dick Cheney and George W Bush. A big factor in this election was the war happening in the Middle east and whether it was a good or bad thing. Bush lost the popular vote but ended up winning in the electoral college narrowly with 35 more votes. -
The Kyoto Accords
The Kyoto accords were an international treaty that was meant to decrease the amount of C02 produced in an attempt to decrease global warming. George Bush did not sign the Kyoto accord. -
Feminist Movement
Topic: Culture and Society The feminist movement in the mid-2000s became much more digital and started to be on platforms for blogging or things such as Facebook. This movement wanted to get rid of gender roles and advocated for more rights for women of other races and cultures. -
Hurricane katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a Hurricane that mostly impacted the gulf coast. The Hurricane majorly impacted New Orleans with 1836 fatalities and 125 billion in damages. -
LGBTQ Movement
Topic: Society and culture The LGBTQ community pushed for many things such as same-sex marriage and the ability to serve in the military. They also pushed for more visibility in general. -
War on Terrorism continued
Topic: US in the world After the US dealt with Osama BIn Laden they moved on to other threats in the Middle East. the next threat was Sudan Hussein who was suspected to have WMDs. We successfully took him down but no WMDs were found resulting in backlash. After this, the US stayed in Afghanistan dealing with the various insurgencies. -
Moving to the Sunbelt
Topic: Migration Many in what is called the rust belt feel like there were better opportunities for them in the Sunbelt. Many move to the Sunbelt for the work and for the temperature. -
The Great recession
Topic: Work, Exchange, and Technology During the 2000s the economy was going downhill with a major recession due to an unstable housing market, risky loans, and a variety of complex investments that were sold to unsuspecting investors. When housing prices dipped investors freaked out as investments lost value. Many banks closed and there were many cases of foreclosure. -
Gun violence
Topic: America and national Identity In the 2000s there were multiple cases of shooting in places such as schools or churches. This resulted in some people questioning whether the staple of American gun laws needed to be tightened. -
Feelings toward the War on Terrorism
At first, many Americans felt very strong hate for terrorists in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern countries due to 9/11. At first, the feeling felt mostly the same as many things were going right with the US successfully dealing with Sudam Hussein with some criticism. Eventually, this feeling started to grow less and less when we went into Afghanistan. At first, we were doing well but when the Taliban started to step up their attacks people started losing their anger, -
Black Lives Matter
Topic: culture and society A movement based around justice for African Americans and increased rights. This movement mainly sparked from an increase in police brutality against African Americans. This was shown in various ways such as through protests and grassroots operations. -
Refugee Crisis
Topic: Migration Situations around the world caused an estimated 42 million people to displaced. This meant that these refugees were looking for somewhere to go meaning increased immigration. -
Economic Crisis social effects
Topic: America and national identity The economic crisis did have an effect on Americans and this played a major role in the next election. Many Americans became concerned with the economy and felt that it needed to be changed so in the next election much of Obama's support came from his initiation to use the second half of the TARP. -
Deepwater Horizon Oil spill
This was an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It is considered to be the largest oil spill in history. The estimated discharge of oil was 210 million US gallons. It took several efforts to finally seal it on September 19 of 2010. This is considered one of the largest environmental disasters in American history. This also affected surrounding places. -
Ilegal imigration from mexico
During the 2000s illegal immigration from Mexico and other Latin American places decreased drastically.
