Yearly Inflation Rate U.S.A. 4.83%

Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 2753

Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 10.50%

Average Cost of new house $120,000

Average Income per year $27,450

Average Monthly Rent $420

Average Price for new car $15,350

1 gallon of gas 97 cents

US Postage Stamp 25 cents

George H.W. Bush is inaugurated as President

Dan Quayle is inaugurated as Vice President

A jury convicts Oliver North in the Iran-Contra affair

A San Francisco Bay area earthquake measuring 7.1 in magnitude, killed 67 and injured over

3,000. Over 100,000 buildings damaged or destroyed

Serial killer Ted Bundy is executed in Florida's electric chair

The Exxon Valdez dumps 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Price William Sound

Mikhail S. Gorbachev named Soviet President

The Berlin Wall is open to West

US troops invade Panama, seeking capture of General Manuel Noriega

US Fighter Jets shoot down two Libyan fighters over international waters in Mediterranean

Ayatollah Khomeini sentences Salman Rushdie's to death for his novel Satanic Verses. We find out years later that U2 lead-man Bono hosted Salman's exile for many years.

Soviet Union troops pull out of Afghanistan

Tiananmen Square

Voyager 2 spacecraft passes by Neptune

The first GPS satellites are launched into space

Scientists pronounce 1989 as the warmest on record possibly a sign of the greenhouse effect

Intel introduces the 486 MicroProcessor

Microsoft releases its new software Microsoft Office

San Francisco wins the Super Bowl against Cincinnati (20-16)

Oakland A's win the World Series against San Francisco (4-0)

Calgary wins the Stanley Cup against Montreal (4-2)

Detroit Pistons win the NBA Championships against the LA Lakers (4-0)

Bobby McFerrin wins Grammy for Record and Song of the Year for "Don't Worry Be Happy"

George Michael wins Grammy for Album of the Year for "Faith"

Tracy Chapman wins best new artist

The Simpsons premiers on Fox

The Arsenio Hall Show debuts

Cops premiers on Fox

Quantum leap premiers on NBC

Tales from the Crypt premiers on HBO

The Seinfeld Chronicles premiers on NBC, later renamed Seinfeld

Saved By the Bell premiers on NBC

American Gladiators debuts

Baywatch premiers on NBC

Americas Funniest Home Videos premiers on NBC

David Spade and Mike Meyers join the cast of Saturday Night Live

Driving Miss Daisy wins the Academy Award for Best Picture

Other Movies:

Glory

Born on the Fourth of July

My Left Foot

Dead Poets Society

Sex, Lies, and Video tape

Field of Dreams

Batman

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Lethal Weapon 2

Twins

Back to the Future Part II

Ghostbusters II

The Little Mermaid

Driving Miss Daisy

Parenthood

Licence to Kill

Honey, I Shrunk The Kids

When Harry Met Sally

Lucille Ball

Gilda Radner

Jim Backus (Thurston Howell from Gilligans Island & voice of Mr. Magoo)

Mel Blanc

Graham Chapman of Monty Python;s Flying Circus

Japanese Emperor Hirohito

Sugar Ray Robinson

Irving Berlin