Scenario: Years and Years

Created by AllThingsCombined, this scenario is similar to the HBO show to the same name. This page will serve as the main timeline for the scenario with other pages as well.

2020

 * Scenario begins in June of that year.


 * June: The Coronavirus continues to rage on, with projections that it the curve is falling and many states begin their early re-opening stages in order to stabilize their economies. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell announces that he believes that the United States will enter a massive recession in the coming months due to the effects of the Coronavirus. President Donald Trump openly disputes this claim, and says that the economy is on it's way up and for the American people not to panic or worry and pushes for states to open faster. In the United Kingdom, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishni Sunak announces that he believes that the United Kingdom is headed for a major recession, and that the funds for support for small business in the country is severely diminishing. Also in the United Kingdom, the entire Scottish Government resigns, leading to a political crisis arising in which the Scottish Parliament convenes for an emergency meeting to address the formation of a new government and the appointment of a new Prime Minister.
 * July: In Scotland, the Scottish Government convenes and with a slim majority elect Ian Blackford of the SNP as the new First Minister of Scotland, and is quickly confirmed by Queen Elizabeth II. Minister Blackford comments that he has no plans for a snap election to be held, yet the Scottish opposition pressures Blackford to do so anyways. Within the Majority of the Scottish Parliament, the Greens also want a Snap Election to be held as they have felt increasingly isolated by the SNP and threaten to no longer support the SNP which would leave a hung parliament. In the United States, President Trump continues to feud with Michigan Governor, Gretchen Whitmer over her stay-at-home orders not being let up. This has caused more demonstrations by anti-stay at home activists to protest in downtown Lansing in front of the state capital. President Trump reiterates his "woman in Michigan" comment when speaking about her, causing outrage by the left-wing media and condemnation by many. He also threatens to pull federal monetary support for the state if she "doesn't shape up" which causes more outrage and accusations of being a sexist attack, while the White House denies this. In response, Governor Whitmer comments that she doesn't need the President's help and that Michigan could recover on their own but shouldn't expect to help the federal government back if they need something in the future.
 * August: Global polling shows a sharp decrease in support of China since the start of the Coronavirus, especially with the reports that they had censored and imprisoned scientists that tried to reveal the truth about the virus in it's early stages. Polling done by Gallup shows since February to August unavailability has gone from 67% to 79.5%, and countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam have all expressed ideas of halting trade with China as punishment for their poor handling of the Coronavirus. A study done by the International Economic Development Council shows warning signs of a global recession if China's major trading partners stop trade, and that if China sinks into a recession that it could pull the rest of the world into a recession of great proportions. When asked, President Trump says the United States had no plans of ending or cutting trade with China and that they should be given "slack" because they have been so heavily affected by the virus. A whistleblower leaks documents from the Federal Reserve that showed communication between them and the World Bank that talk about if the bank could give a secret large grant to the Federal Reserve under the "Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Other Diseases" clause, and the records show that the World Bank declined this request. Outrage grows over this leak, as people begin to question how in danger their economy is in which President Trump had promised that the economy was doing great while the documents showed otherwise. This has arisen more questions and there are rumors of another congressional investigation into this, where in no surprise, the Democrats are in favor of this while the Republicans are against any investigation and say that they should focus on having the country open up again and deal with it after the November elections.
 * September: Global Coronavirus cases have sunken to all time low, and many begin to return to their normal lives while abiding social distancing rules. Many Governors say that they plan to have social distancing rules in place well into the next year, this includes Governor Whitmer of Michigan, Governor Murphy of New Jersey, Governor Cuomo of New York, and Governor Newson of California. In politics, the Democrats convene in Milwaukee and officially nominate former Vice-President Joe Biden as their nominee for President of the United States and Kamala Harris as their nominee for Vice-President of the United States, making her the first woman of color to be on the ticket of a major political party for Vice-President. With no contest, the Republicans nominate Donald Trump again for President of the United States and Mike Pence for Vice-President of the United States. Early polling show that Biden and Harris have a very wide margin against Trump and Pence, yet some are concerned that if the economy continues to hold that Trump could win another term. It is said that the entire result of the election is based on if the economy is able to hold for another two months until the election. In Scotland, Minister Blackford announces that there will be no snap election since the next election is to be held in May of the following year. This causes outrage among other Scottish politicians, and the Greens announce that they no longer will support the SNP and also will not join the Opposition, leaving a hung parliament. Rumors are also being spread that the SNP could hold a vote of no-confidence against Blackford for his poor handling of the political crisis in the country. Major polling done shows that support for the Scottish National Party hits at an all time low, and many are concerned that this could result in a major upset in which another party wins the next election.
 * October: In a slim vote from 24 for to 23 against, the United Nations Human Rights Council votes to condemn China for their handling of the Coronavirus and their censoring of journalists and scientists who attempted to come forward about the disease. Chinese President Xi Jinping commented that this ruling was a "shameful show of western suppression upon the east" and it was announced that the People's Republic of China would leave the Human Rights Council as protest for their condemnation. The President of the HRC, Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger of Austria announced that Cambodia would take China's place on the HRC upon their nomination. US President Trump condemns the HRC for their treatment of China and calls them the, "pro-Palestinian group" had no right to condemn China for something they "couldn't control". The CDC announce that if the global Coronavirus cases continue to decline as they previously show that it will be no longer considered a pandemic by the soonest of December 2020, while they still warn of a comeback of the virus. Many states have fully re-opened, yet still many state economies are slow and are having a difficult time getting off the ground because of the economic effect of having many businesses closed because of the virus. California and New York remain the only states that have some restrictions on business operations in their states which draw criticism by right-wing supporters and protests at the state capitals. As the presidential election takes place in the next month, polls are showing Democrat Joe Biden clearly ahead of Trump in almost every poll. Yet as the economy still holds it's balance (barley), it is thought that Trump could pull another surprise victory riding the success of the economic balance through the pandemic.
 * November: In a total upset, President Donald Trump wins re-election for another four years, winning 270 electoral votes while Joe Biden won 268 electoral votes. At his victory rally Trump was quoted saying, "Let the left's tears flow! They can't stop us from KEEPING AMERICA GREAT!". Across the country in reaction, numerous riots and protests were reported in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, San Francisco, Newark, and Compton. The riots would continue for a week and it is reported that there was $15 million in damages and over 2,500 arrests by police. In Compton, California and Newark, New Jersey the National Guard was called in by the Governors in order to break up the protests after 5 days of looting, setting fires, and violence in the cities. President Trump credited his win on the well being of the economy, and that God wanted the Coronavirus to happen in order to test his ability as President of the United States. This comment caused international push back and condemnation by many nations around the world, even China. He would later say he misspoke and was misunderstood by the "corrupt international media". In a twist of fate, the end of the week after Trump's win, which would later be called: Black Friday, in which the Dow Jones would experience it's single greatest loss in one day in history in which it would loose 7,035 points (30%). The following Monday, more chaos would insure in which JPMorgan would attempt to demonstrate their confidence in the stock market by putting in almost $1 trillion (almost half of their assets), which would fail when the Dow would continue to plunge over the next week. Many traders on the Stock Market would sell most or all of their shares during that week in a mix of panic over the Dow's loss, Trump's win, and JPMorgan's failed attempts to revive the points lost. The following week, it would be announced that JPMorgan would file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, and on the same day a major run of the banks would occur across the United States in which thousands of people would attempt to withdraw their savings since Morgan declared bankruptcy. They would loose 75% of their retail customers in a weeks time, and there were some reported acts of violence at bank and ATM locations where they would not be able to return people's savings. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development would announce in late November, that they believe that the United States would be headed for a major depression, higher than seen in the 1920s.
 * December: After the announcement of JPMorgan's bankruptcy, Bank of America and Wells Fargo would soon follow, thus leading 3 out of the "Big Four" banks to all declare bankruptcy with only Citigroup barley holding on. Citigroup's survival is credited to the fact they did not try to revive the slipping economy by pumping money into the falling Stock Market and at the same time trying not to revive the other big three banks. Trillions of dollars and millions of customer's accounts were lost in a number of days. Soon after the National Bureau of Economic Research announces that the United States has entered an economic depression that could result in the loss of trillions of dollars. Only days later would stock exchanges across the world begin loosing trillions of dollars, thus spiraling the world into a new economic depression. In reaction to this global trade would slow to an almost standstill, plunging the Chinese economy as well. The Federal Reserve and the United States Department of Treasury would announce in a joint statement that they would not be able to force an economic recovery, as the money lost exceeded both institution's revenues. The National Economic Council would also announce that the money lost would exceed the revenue of the United States Government, and that they would plan on printing more money in order to try and stabilize the free fall of the economy. This of course, lead to inflation from 2.29% (December 2019) to 4.01% within a year's time. As a reaction of the inflation, the dollar begun loosing it's value. At the same time, the CDC announced that they have received in influx of new Coronavirus cases and some are warning that the virus was beginning to make a comeback.