It’s almost 2010! A new decade is upon us… are you nervous? New beginnings are always anticipated with a bit of terror: new jobs, new cities, new relationships. The beautiful thing about new beginnings though is the hope that lies beneath that feeling of anxiety, a hope that say’s “this is going to go just right.”
That same attitude existed in the late 90’s when the new Millennium was fast approaching, and along with it the promise of change. And when the clock struck 12 to kick off the 2000’s and the world didn’t end, we thought we were off to a good start. However, when looking back at the last decade we can see that things haven’t gone as smoothly as we might have hoped. Andy Serwer’s article “The Decade From Hell…” was Time magazine’s cover story last week, and after following the past ten years events, it’s easy to see where he got the title.
In the second year of this unfortunate decade (2001), the U.S. was witness to one of the most controversial elections in recent history, resulting in Bush’s inauguration. Crowds of people watched as a president was ushered in that no one was quite sure earned the title. But regardless a president was named, and an era begun. Later that year the tragic events of 9/11 took place. That day claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 civilians, and some 300 police and firefighters. Those terrorist attacks shook not only the country of the United States, but the entire world. It catapulted wars in several different areas, and caused a drastic change in the way America and other nations handled many aspects of liberty.
While this event may have seemed like enough to cast a shadow over the decade all on its own, the future was relentless. Midway through the first decade of this millennium we saw the largest natural disaster in America’s history. By this I of course refer to hurricane Katrina, which attacked the New Orleans area that summer taking more than 1,500 lives and causing nearly $100 billion in damages.
The next few years were filled with the talk of an ever warming globe, an increased number of violent outbreaks like the shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007, the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the biggest financial scandals in the nations history… until finally, it all came crashing down. Sky rocketing oil prices, a crumbling housing industry and the exposure of high level financial theft led to an economic recession. This recession has caused the bankruptcy of huge financial as well as manufacturing corporations, possibly ending the long run of such giants as Chrysler and General Motors. The last few years economic crisis has caused the unemployment rate to increase drastically to 10.2%, and we’re not out of the woods yet.
Andy Serwer cites over-optimism and a general sense that procrastination was a tolerable approach to dealing with the future, as the leading causes of most of the countries issues. Surely this is an understandable claim when we look at the economy, which crashed as a result of unsustainable growth and irresponsible management finally hitting its breaking point; but when it comes to natural disasters and terrorist attacks, we might think America was off the hook. Serwer however, sees otherwise.
Looking back at 9/11 Serwer suggests that better attention to detail and an increased understanding of America’s international reputation may have alerted the nation to the chance of such an attack. He feels that the signs were perhaps clearer than some people would have liked to believe.
Serwer also says hurricane Katrina was as catastrophic as it was because of outdated infrastructure that was ignored for far too long. He claims that there was more than enough evidence that the levees in New Orleans needed to be repaired. “For years they had been warning the Army Corps of Engineers, which oversaw the city’s 350 miles of levees, that its system was inadequate” (Serwer). He notes that the U.S. spends just 2.4% of its GDP on infrastructure, while Europe spends an average of 5% and China puts out nearly 10%. “Katrina wasn’t even as bad a storm as had been feared, but the levees weren’t as good as had been hoped,” Serwer writes. He claims lives could have been saved by, again, better attention to detail.
The good news about this decade is that America (which whether you like it or not means us too) can learn from it, and according to Serwer and many others, they plan to. Serwer says that America’s pessimism at this point may not be a bad thing, and will lead to more careful investments, and a more assertive approach to dealing with what the future has in store.
He makes no guarantees about this millennium’s second decade being any better than the first, but he is hopeful, and as the new decade fast approaches, there are plenty of signs that say things will go nowhere but up. So take some advice from Tupac Shakur, and keep your head up.
That in Mind... Anybody got new years plans?
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