Nothing much happened in America in the 2010s. The unemployment rate declined slowly but steadily; the stock market rose; people’s economic situation gradually improved. There were no terrorist attacks on the scale of 9/11, no new land wars to rival Iraq and Vietnam. The country was relatively calm: Violent crime and illegal immigration trended downward, teenage delinquency diminished, teen birthrates fell and the out-of-wedlock birthrate stabilized.
In Washington, only two major pieces of legislation passed Congress, both of them predictable — a health insurance expansion under a Democratic president and a deficit-financed tax cut under a Republican. No enduring majorities were forged; control of government was divided for seven of the 10 years.