Historic Gen Z Events
Generation Z
Overview (1995-2012)
If America values freedom, stable principles, traditional families, truth, justice, law and order, mercy and grace, and equal rights, it must protect against anything undermining these values. While Christ's message is the answer, the Church must play a significant role in addressing and overcoming these struggles.
Romans 15:13: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."
Generation Z (Gen Z) has faced a multitude of challenges, leading to a rise in anxiety, loneliness, and depression. Gen Z (Born 1997-2012) grew up entirely in the digital age and became immersed in the Internet, Smartphones, and Social Media from an early age.
The Dot-Com (.Com) financial bust affected any in Gen Z (and their parents) who had invested in the Stock Market. Other financial issues during this period included the collapse of the Housing Bubble in 2009, which led to home foreclosures, the 2009 Banking Failure and FDIC bailout, and the ensuing Recession. As a result, Gen Z tends to distrust capitalism, is cautious and suspicious about business, and looks for alternative paths to success.
Understanding the unique experiences of Gen Z, such as the Columbine School Shooting, the 9/11 false-flag Attack in NYC, the Y2K Crisis, and a President caught in sexual acts in the Oval Office, is crucial in comprehending their shifting societal values. But the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars continued what Man has experienced throughout history. You can learn more details using the Year Selector below.
1995 - Oklahoma City Bombing
A domestic terrorist attack by Timothy McVeigh on the Alfred P. Murray Federal Building killed 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center, and injured hundreds. The incident highlighted the threat of domestic extremism. Security measures tightened, impacting public spaces and government buildings.
Other significant events were the O.J. Simpson not-guilty verdict and the racial division it sparked because of his celebrity. More families became single parent homes, as over 40 percent of marriages ended in divorces. About 1/3rd of all births were out of wedlock, as teen pregnancy had increased by 400 percent since the 1960s. Adults were more likely to co-habit than to get married and make strong commitments to each other before God.
However, in 1995, there was a 4.5% reduction in abortions compared to 1994, although there were still over 1.288 million babies aborted. Evil influences continued to cause Black women to abort far more often the White or Hispanic women, causing some to think of abortion as a form of eugenics against Blacks.
1996 - Welfare Reform
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act limited welfare benefits and imposed work requirements. The federal government faced a budget crisis, leading to a government shutdown that lasted several weeks. Federal employees were furloughed, affecting their income and daily lives. People had to adjust their budgets, rely on savings, and seek temporary employment. While this action aimed to reduce dependency, it left vulnerable populations struggling to make ends meet.
Poverty rates remained high, especially among single mothers and children. Gun violence in schools continued at Frontier Middle School in Moses Lake, WA. where a student killed his algebra teacher and two other students. Stricter gun control was proposed. This came on the heels of the terrorist bombing in 1995.
1997 - Emergency Alert System Introduced
For the first time since December 1973, unemployment fell below 5% in 1997, signaling a robust economy. The Emergency Alert System was introduced in the US, enhancing communication during emergencies.
On October 27, 1997, stock markets worldwide crashed due to economic concerns. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 554.26 points (7.18%) to 7,161.15, causing anxiety among investors and affecting the U.S. economy.
1998 - Clinton Disrespects Presidential Office
The unemployment rate fell to 4.3%, the lowest since February 1970. NASA sent 77-year-old John Glenn back into space, making him the oldest astronaut. Iraq was suspected of harboring weapons of mass destruction under the leadership of Saddam Hussein. Military action by the US and Great Britain was averted by a deal that allowed weapons inspectors back into Baghdad.
Bill Clinton's presidency was rocked first by Paula Jones, accusing him of sexual harassment. A bigger scandal would follow with Monica Lewinsky having inappropriate sexual relations with Clinton in the Oval Office. Later in the year, Clinton had to go on national TV to admit that he "misled people" when he initially denied that he had an "inappropriate physical relationship with Lewinsky. Clinton was eventually impeached. This event was yet another crack in America's moral and ethical standing before the Lord.
1999 - Columbine High School Massacre
The tragic shooting in Colorado resulted in the deaths of 12 students and a teacher. It sparked debates on gun control, mental health, and school safety. Fear of violence in schools intensified, affecting students, parents, and educators. This was not the first mass school shooting, but Columbine seemed to open the door to more frequent and horrific shootings.
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School shootings
are related to several factors, such as bullying, rejection, and other issues. To learn more about this, go to the Nana & PopPop Section and listen to the Ted Talk by someone who almost became a school shooter.
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Jesus' Love
There is love and acceptance by Jesus towards all people. Mankind needs to learn that God's love is the central issue of our lives, not the need to please other broken human beings. Only the presence of God can bring profound peace (shalom) to people, regardless of the situation being experienced.
1999 Y2K Crisis
In 1999, it was thought that many computers would be unable to deal with the dates in the new millennium when 2000 happened. However, this was only sometimes true, yet manufacturers let equipment owners believe it was. As a result, much relatively new equipment was prematurely replaced before it had been fully depreciated or reached its end-of-life point. As a result, unit sales in 1999 were almost 50 percent greater than usual. However, in 2000-2001, unit sales were down 25 percent compared to normal due to all the premature replacement, and several large companies like GE, HP, Agilent Technologies, and tech firms had terrible years. These companies built too much inventory that ended up in warehouses because sales were meager. Many companies laid off people, shut down divisions, or left markets they were involved in. This also inserted a permanent distortion in the cyclical trends for equipment replacement going forward. Lack of integrity is never good business policy, nor are all the bad things known beforehand. Once a company is compromised, restoring confidence in it is hard.
2000 - Dot-com Bubble Burst
The notorious dot-com bubble, the tech boom or internet bubble, spanned roughly from 1995 to 2001. Internet-related tech companies captured immense attention from venture capitalists and traditional investors during this period. The influx of money, combined with the surging popularity of the internet, led to rapid valuation growth for web-based companies. However, many of these firms lacked clear paths to profitability. Low interest rates in the late 1990s facilitated debt financing for ambitious tech startups, further fueling the industry’s unchecked expansion. Around late 2000, the streams of easy money abruptly dried up, causing the industry to implode and ushering in a new bear market that affected not only technology stocks but the entire stock market. Venture capitalists poured money into unproven startups, often without rigorous due diligence. The collapse of tech stocks wiped out billions of dollars in investments.
Many Americans lost their jobs as internet companies folded. When the bubble burst, the fallout was severe. Many dot-com companies folded, resulting in widespread layoffs. The technology sector, which had been booming, suddenly faced job losses. Engineers, designers, marketers, and support staff were all affected. Two hundred thousand workers lost their jobs.
As did stock prices, confidence in the stock market and the economy declined. The collapse impacted average Americans who had invested in tech stocks. Retirement savings, 401(k)s, and other investments suffered significant losses. The dream of quick riches turned into financial hardship for many. Millions of investors lost 5 trillion dollars, which impacted middle-class people, especially retirees. This had a significant impact on raising capital for new ventures. The dot-com collapse forced a reality check. Investors became more cautious, demanding solid business models and profitability. However, it also paved the way for more sustainable ventures. Please take a look at the Banking Mountain of Influence for additional information.
2001 - Bush takes office and 9/11 Terrorist Attacks
The coordinated attacks on the World Trade Center in NYC, at the Pentagon in Washington, DC and aboard a commandeered AA flight in Pennsylvania killed nearly 3,000 people, grounded all flights across the USA and brought the alert level to its highest. These attacks disrupted TV and radio communication in the greater NYC area and NJ because most TV antennas were on the top of the building destroyed. It left lasting trauma across the nation since it was the first major attack on U.S. soil since the War of 1814. It led to the passage of the Patriot Act, which has turned out to be one of the most repressive pieces of legislation passed in history by Congress. The U.S. government today uses it to declare American citizens as domestic terrorists if they disagree with school policies or protest in Washington, DC. and jail them without bail or other rights. The Constitutionality of the Patriot Act was questionable, but Congress keeps extending it, and the Supreme Court does nothing to limit its abuses. It created the DHS, which now involves canceling free speech online and via social media.
The subsequent War on Terror led to military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, causing further loss of life and destabilization. Even today, increased surveillance and security measures significantly impact civil liberties and privacy. This increased surveillance seemed to open the door to the continued erosion of rights and liberties. America crossed the line and now wars against its citizens and impacts society as a whole. God tells people to pray for the nation, but even believers do not pray as they ought, and many citizens do not vote, including church members. God uses prayer as an invitation to change things.
2002 - Bush Declares War on Iraq
2002 was the year the US launched a war in the Middle East in response to the 9/11 attack in 2001. America involved itself in the most expensive and most prolonged series of wars in its history, none of which it won. The US first fought in Iraq and then in Afghanistan but ignored Iran.
President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law, aiming to improve education standards and accountability. The Boston Globe published a story exposing the sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.
The United States Department of Justice announced a criminal investigation into the Enron scandal. Detainees arrived at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, marking the beginning of its use for holding suspected terrorists. In his State of the Union Address on January 29, President Bush referred to North Korea, Iran, and Iraq as the "axis of evil".
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in Pakistan and accused of being a CIA agent by his captors.
2003 - America's Space Program Crashes
America’s economy experienced robust growth. The third quarter saw the most substantial expansion rate in nearly 20 years, with 328,000 jobs added over four months.
Tesla was founded by engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning to popularize electric vehicles (EVs). Elon Musk joined as chairman and later became CEO.
The Human Genome Project started in 1990 was completed. Like so many things that man does, this opened the door to both good and bad uses. The positive was that this was the basis for new approaches to diagnoses, treatment and prevention of disease. The negative was that it had the potential for development of drugs that could be used against humans.
On February 1, 2003, after the STS-107 mission, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry over Texas, killing all seven astronauts inside. The loss of Columbia was a result of damage sustained during the launch.
The U.S., along with the U.K., invaded Iraq in March 2003, citing reasons like disarming Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. However, the aftermath revealed no such weapons, and the war led to instability, loss of life, and economic strain. The US and GB troops also committed countless human rights abuses. These were never admitted to and added to continued offenses against the Lord.
2004 - MER-A/B Reach Mars
and Facebook Launches
NASA's MER-A (Spirit) and MER-B (Opportunity) successfully landed on Mars, providing valuable data about the planet's geology and history. The social network Facebook launched, changing communication and connecting people worldwide.
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) continued to impact America. While it increased trade and foreign investment, it also led to job losses in U.S. manufacturing and suppressed wages. Concerns about the war in Iraq continued, impacting national security and politics.
2005 - FEMA Unprepared for Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a devastating event that struck the Gulf Coast, particularly New Orleans, resulting in over 1,800 deaths and massive displacement. The Fed. Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) proved not to be up to the task of mitigating the problems particularly in New Orleans and states where disaster planning and response disproportionately affected low-income communities where many African Americans lived.
The New Orleans Convention Center became the gathering area for displaced people. The general population misunderstood this. Police and government did not care about the safety of the people quarantined inside at all; and left it an unguarded area. They focused on keeping the people outside the convention center safe from people displaced. The convention center became an internment center for the poor and displaced. Rapes and other crimes occurred inside the convention center but not outside. Outside, there were curfews and martial law to control the rest of the population. Hospitals became military-operated facilities as civil rights were suspended when a State of Emergency was declared. This was the first taste for many Americans of how civil rights could be swept away for an indefinite period. It can be done by a simple government decree at the state or federal level, with the stroke of a pen or even a verbal pronouncement.
Katrina exposed disparities in emergency preparedness and recovery efforts that required coordination between local, state, and federal response agencies. Eventually, a better, coordinated emergency response was planned, as FEMA paid billions in grants to ensure preparedness by staging supplies around the country and planning for internment camps in every state.
Many private organizations and companies' emergency plans presume prompt response by government agencies; however, as Hurricane Sandy demonstrated in 2012, that was not the case.
Often, God lets people know when trouble is coming so all can be prepared. People can call upon Him in times of trouble, and He promises to be with them. His presence can bring Shalom (peace).
2006 - The End of the Housing Bubble: A Turning Point
In 2006, the U.S. experienced a pivotal moment—the housing bubble bursting. For years, people had purchased homes on credit (with almost no equity investment). So home prices soared until banks failed and unemployment soared, making it impossible for many who bought homes on credit to keep making mortgage payments without jobs. This led to many foreclosures, and that depressed housing prices nationally. The bank had to unload foreclosed homes at meager costs to recover and still didn't recover loans they had made, so they were at risk of failure. Those who could make mortgage payments saw their home value plummet since so many foreclosed properties were on the market. Some families found their homes were less than their equity, so they couldn't afford to sell them. This instability rippled the entire economy, sending America into a Great Recession.
What's bad for America economically is often inadequate for the world since it is the largest economy in the world. European Union (EU) employment rates converged as America shut down and unemployment soared. By 2006, the employment-to-population ratios for prime-age workers (ages 25-54) in the EU 15 and the U.S. had nearly aligned. This convergence challenged the notion that robust welfare state protections inevitably led to higher unemployment. Countries like Ireland, Sweden, and Denmark, with solid welfare systems, boasted higher employment rates than the U.S. This revelation had implications for policymakers and economists going forward. 2006 was a year of pivotal shifts that set up the failures ahead.
2007-2012 Great Bank Failure/Recession
Shortly Obama was elected in 2008, the value of Real Estate Investment Trusts crashed creating a national financial crisis. This caused 465 banks to fail, which cost the federal government and other agencies over 1.38 trillion dollars to bale them out. The financial collapse led to widespread unemployment, home foreclosures, economic instability, the printing of money, and an increase in debt. The Dodd-Frank Legislation was passed, allowing banks to seize some deposit funds without depositors' permission and use them as equity for banks to keep them solvent. This let the FDIC off the hook to bail out banks for future depressions or housing collapses. This hurts middle-class homeowners by depressing the value of their property when selling their homes and limits their mobility.
During this period, millions of Americans lost their homes and savings and saw their retirement funds shrink dramatically. Although the recession was technically over by 2009, the recovery took until 2015, the most extended recovery period in history.
Unemployment rates soared but were under-reported by the government due to the U3 Unemployment Index used. See the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) U4 or U6 indicators from 2007 to 2014 for a better picture of real unemployment. This period saw immense financial stress for families and an increase in divorce and suicide rates. Jesus advises people not to put faith in money because economies can rise and fall, and earthly wealth doesn't protect them in this life or after death. Instead, He advises people to store treasures in Heaven.