It was special in some respects, namely it marked the end of the gold standard in the US, which likely had an impact on many of the charts on the website. Undou

It was special in some respects, namely it marked the end of the gold standard in the US, which likely had an impact on many of the charts on the website. Undoubtedly other things happened during the 70s which also impacted on those charts but the quote at the end demonstrates that the gold standard is clearly what the website is trying to bring attention to. But I think you are also likely correct that one could create a similar website about, if not any year, certainly many different years. I think this website is being rather disingenuous in the way it presents things. Not only in the way they cherry picked a bunch of charts which show drastic changes after 1971 (and which may or may not be related), but also in the way they leave it to the reader to "do their own research" while framing the question so as to ensure that 5 minutes of googling will yield the answer they want to plant in the reader's mind.