The "Gas Wars" of the 70's

[CatWoman]

I wasn't "politically aware" then, but do you guys remember the high gas prices of the 70's (during Carter's tenure)?

what was the deal then?

How does it compare to now?

[steve2470]

Back then, OPEC was limiting production to raise prices

There was also some hysteria here which resulted in long gas lines, stealing of gas from gas tanks and a tad of hoarding. There were accusations that the largest oil companies were conspiring to raise prices. Carter et al. were clean AFAIK.

[tx_dem41]

1. That was totally a supply-driven crisis....

due to an embargo started by Arab oil-producing nations.

Conversely, this is much more demand-driven, IMO.

[movie_girl99]

2. i was a kid but i remember having to wait in lines

and something about license plate numbers ending in odd number go on a certain day etc...

[tx_dem41]

3. Yep. Rationing took place based on License Plate numbers.

I had forgotten that.

[movie_girl99]

15. hey neighbor

I'm a native Dallasite now living in suburban hell north of Dallas. Hopefully only for about 4 more years though.

[tx_dem41]

16. Hey back.

I've been here for 18 years. The first 7 were in surburban hell (Carrollton), but I've been in M Streets area off of Lower Greenville for 11 years now. Much happier!

[movie_girl99]

18. OMG that's where i live!!!!!

I am from Dallas but moved to hell 14 years ago. I'm waiting for my youngest to graduate and then the day of graduation I am putting my house on the market. My husband and i were just looking last week at places in Lakewood and lower Greenville. That's so cool. I'm thinking perhaps a loft apt. in Mockingbird Station would be cool. I need to be close to Dart Rail because I work up here (in hell).

[tx_dem41]

21. You couldn't get much closer than Mockingbird Station then.

I live further down near the Dubliner/Blue Goose/Stan's Blue Note area....absolutely love the mix of people that live down there. And, unlike most of Dallas, we have big trees!

[movie_girl99]

25. yeah we go down there quite a bit

to see movies at the Angelika and Magnolia. My husband is English so we have been to that English Shop on lower Greenville. We haven't been to The Dubliner but we like the Tipperary Inn. Nice to meet cha tx_dem41.

[Fovea]

4. It corresponded with a whole generation

of new bicyclists, many of whom are coming back to the bike in their 50s and 60s.

[GreenPartyVoter]

I remember seeing the lines on the news.. but that was it.

[unhappycamper]

5. The gas wars of the 60s were the best!

The best price I can recall was $0.11/gal. A buck would be a full night of cruising in my 55 Chevey.

[madrchsod]

10. those were the days.....

bum a few of dollars. get a case and cruise all night on the gravel roads and never see anything but some deer and other critters....

[greenbriar]

19. gawd if only

we have a 2005 liberty and a 1995 beretta
cost us almost $80 bucks to fill both of em

[steve2470]

6. wikipedia link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_energy_crisis

[lynettebro440]

7. Yep

You could only buy gas on a certain day if your license number ended in such and such number. There used to be long lines to the stations on these days. I wonder if we are going to go and have that happen again. It wasn't much fun back then, can imagine it will be less fun now.

[lectrobyte]

23. The rationing I remember was that on even numbered days

only even numbered license plates could buy gas, likewise for odd numbered days etc.

The gas lines I remember were caused by the stations not having gas, and when they did have it, folks would line up to get it. Not really a factor of rationing...

[endarkenment]

8. It was the domestic oil peak.

And it ran from the original opec boycott in 72 with Nixon through Ford and Carter up to the Reagan nightmare.

Inflation spiralled out of control - which actually wasn't so horrible, wages pretty much kept up and after the SS reform that introduced the SS cola, SS kept up too. There were periods of ridiculous gas lines and total crap - angry people - line cutters stupid shit. But we also responded in a more or less rational fashion. Most everyone downsized their cars. Speed limits were reduced. Cafe standards were introduced to force detroit to build fuel efficient cars. People turned their thermostats down where possible. Sweaters were big in the north :-)

Lots of people put up solar panels - you got a tax break for doing so. The wind farm business got started. Wood stoves were big.

In the late 70's I hardly used a car at all. I rode a bike or took mass transit most anywhere I was going.

[zbdent]

9. This was back when you could get your tank filled up and never

leave the driver's seat . . . remember those days?

[CatWoman]

11. ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

full service :D

they even checked your oil, and cleaned your windshield :D

[many a good man]

12. I had just gotten my first driver's license

and within months gas prices more than doubled. Had an old gas-guzzling Chevy that only got 8 miles to the gallon. Had to wait in line for hours to get a fill-up.

In 73-74 oil prices quadrupled. They quadrupled again in 78-79. American cars were all gas-guzzling pieces of crap. That's when imports started to take off. People blamed the Arabs (upset over the 73 Israeli war) for the embargo. TV showed aerial pictures of oil tankers lined up off the coast sitting idle while prices soared and soared (and oil companies got richer and richer).

This is nothing...so far. Back then the oil price spike created an inflationary shock that drove up prices across the board. Especially for natural gas and heating oil. I attended a poor Franciscan high school and they couldn't afford to fire up the boilers-- I remember sitting in typing class wearing gloves!!! We had to wear coats and hats to all our classes because the school was freezing!

It was called an "Energy crisis" -- which it was. The economy never recovered again until Saint Ronnie stepped in. Miraculously oil prices fell consistently over the next decade and inflation returned to normal. The recovery in the 80s had a lot more to do with the price of oil than anything else.

[SlowDownFast]

13. Thus marks the beginning of nationwide

energy problems and financial ruin...

Truckers strike thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4306289

here we go...

LABOR WORKERS UNITE!

UNION OR NOT AT ALL!

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED!

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE LIVE!

[Chef]

14. Gas Price

I read that at it's height in the 70's, gas was at its all time high which eqauted to $3.20 per gallon in today's dollars. We have a way to go yet.

[many a good man]

17. The real cause of the oil spike

After battling nationalization of the oil fields for decades, US/Big Oil finally compromised with the oil producing countries. The countries wanted the same slice of the pie Big Oil was keeping to itself so they could make some social investments in their countries to choke off revolt. The solution was ingenious.

They just doubled the price the oil. That way the oil companies kept their huge profits and the exporters got huge profits, too. The deal they struck was to have the oil countries recycle their oil profits in the US stock market. They promised to sell oil in US dollars only. Its called petrodollar recycling.

It created a whole new international economic system. The world left the gold standard for currency valuation. Everything now revolves around oil.

The US and GB could now continue to dominate the rest of the world because they controlled the distribution of oil and dollars. Therefore they controlled each third world country's economic development. That way we could keep enough oil for ourselves to maintain our high-consumption lifestyles.

[steve2470]

20. link please ? nt

[lectrobyte]

22. It kind of sucked, but it was good in a way. Definitely got a lot of

people out of gas guzzlers, and Detroit went from lame small cars like the Vega, to X-Cars, just to pick a GM example. People actually considered insulating their houses and energy efficiency.

I don't remember people particularly blaming anyone (except maybe "The Arabs"), and understanding (somewhat) about needing to use less imported oil. Around here, you can still see solar water heating systems on some houses built in the late seventies.

But then 10 years went by, and everything reverted...

[Javaman]

24. When I was a kid I used to sell coffee to the people waiting in line.

I made a killing :)