1975 In the UK inflation continues to spiral out of control reaching 24.2% the price of Petrol increased by nearly 70% in one year, but the US sees a start back down with US inflation going down to 9.2%, both governments use interest rates as a way of trying to control inflation with the US Federal Reserve at 7.25% and The Bank of England at 11.25%. Meanwhile one of the true success stories of modern times when Bill Gates and Paul Allen create the company Microsoft. The First of the new hobby computers are starting to appear including Altair 8800 and the battle for Video recorder standards of VHS and Betamax starts. This is also the year the Vietnam war finally ends.

Cost of Living 1975

How Much things cost in 1975
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 9.2%
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 858
Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 7.25%
Average Cost of new house $39,300.00
Average Income per year $14,100.00
Average Monthly Rent $200.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 44 cents
Average cost new car $4,250.00
Foster Grant Sun Glasses $5.00



What Events Happened in 1975

• Spanish Dictator Franco Dies
• OPEC agrees to raise crude oil prices by 10%.
• The British Conservative Party chooses it's first women leader, Margaret Thatcher
• Oil goes over $13.00 per barrel
• The Vietnam War ends as Communist forces take Saigon and South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally
• The US Carries out Vietnam "Operation Babylift" bringing Vietnamese orphans to the US
• New York City avoids bankruptcy when President Gerald R. Ford signed a $2.3 billion loan
• US Pulls out of Cambodia
• The first oil pipeline to serve Forties oilfield starts pumping North Sea Oil
• The Suez Canal reopens for the first time since the Six-Day War
• The Unemployment Rate in the US reaches 9.2% and recession is recognized by President Ford
• King Faisal of Saudi Arabia Assassinated
• Baader-Meinhof guerrillas take 11 hostages at West German embassy in Stockholm
• The First ever strike by Doctors in the US causes hospitals to reduce services
• Britains inflation rate jumps 25%
• Beginning of 15 years of civil war between Maronite Christians and Muslim militias in Lebanon
• Indira Gandhi India Prime Minister is found guilty of electoral corruption
• The UK implements the Sex Discrimination and Equal Pay Act
• London underground train crashed into a brick wall at Moorgate in London's Financial district
• The United Kingdom votes yes in a referendum on staying in the European Community
• Angola Gains Independence From Portugal
• Suriname Gains Independence From Netherlands
  

Popular Culture 1975

• Bruce Springsteen releases his third album, Born To Run, widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time
• The film version of The Who's Tommy premiers in London

Popular Films

• Jaws
  
• The Towering Inferno
  
• Benji
  
• Young Frankenstein
  
• The Godfather Part II
  
• Funny Lady
  
• Murder on the Orient Express
  
• The Return of the Pink Panther
  
• Tommy
  
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  

Popular Musicians

• Minnie Riperton
  
• Aerosmith
  
• Black Sabbath
  
• Chicago
  
• Bob Dylan
  
• David Bowie with " Fame "
  
• Alice Cooper
  
• The Eagles with " Best of My Love "
  
• Jefferson Starship
  
• Elton John with Island Girl and " Lucy in
• the sky with Diamonds "
  
• Kiss
  
• Led Zeppelin
  
• John Lennon
  
• Bob Marley and the Wailers
  
• Paul McCartney and Wings
  
• Pink Floyd
  
• Paul Simon
  
• Queen
  
• Bruce Springsteen
  
• The Who
  
• ZZ Top
  

Technology 1975

• Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins
• Bill Gates and Paul Allen develop a BASIC program for the Altair 8800
• The name "Micro-soft" (for microcomputer software) and Microsoft becomes a registered trademark
• NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
• US Apollo and Soviet Soyuz 9 spacecraft link up in space and Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts shake hands
• BIC launches first disposable Razor
• The Microcomputer Altair 8800 is released
• Work on the Alaskan Oil Line begins
• Sony introduces Betamax videotapes and Matsushita / JVC introduce VHS
• Tuvalu Gains Independence From Great Britain
• Mozambique Gains Independence From Portugal
  

Inventions Invented by Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use )

• Personal Computer USA Microsoft
  
• The Digital Camera Steven Sasson and
• Kodak Company Laser Printer USA