I agree this is very much like "Printer's Devil," albeit with space aliens rather than the Devil.  Also, in "Printer's Devil," the Devil lost!  Science fiction; deal with the devil.

I will add as an aside that 7.9% in 1974 reflects the stagflation that was going on at that time.  The recession was pretty severe, the worst in my lifetime until the 2008 crash.  Anyway