
Sorry No Gas: Photos from Documerica, 1972 – 1975 - samclemens
https://wearethemutants.com/2018/03/27/sorry-no-gas-photos-from-documerica-1972-1975/
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orionblastar
I was a child when this happened, I remember long lines and gas stations
closing down because they ran out of gas. People blamed all kinds of things.

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tropo
I don't remember, but "they ran out of gas" tells me everything I need to
know. Sure enough, go here...

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis)

...and search the page for "Price controls". Yep. The result is so predictable
that somebody with power must have desired the shortages. This was no
accident. It was entirely self-inflicted.

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slededit
If you think the energy crises was about price controls you took away very
little from the history. Oil exports were dropped dramatically as part of an
"economic weapon" to pressure the United States into abondoning Israel.

This is not a story of a happy free market rudely interrupted by price
controls.

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burfog
It is about price controls. In the absence of price controls, the price would
go up dramatically. This would influence both buyers and sellers.

Buyers would buy less. This prevents fuel from becoming unavailable. As the
available fuel declines, the price rises, the purchases are reduced, and thus
we don't run out.

Sellers would put more effort into finding alternate supplies. Sellers would
be willing to spend the money required to extract oil from difficult
locations. Indeed, in the energy crisis the suppliers were doing just the
opposite because their prices were artificially limited. The sellers were
shutting down production of older wells that were still able to produce oil.

You could call this a story of an unhappy free market rudely interrupted by
price controls. The economic warfare was reason to be unhappy, but actually
running out of fuel was our own doing.

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slededit
> Sellers would be willing to spend the money required to extract oil from
> difficult locations.

This is in fact what happened. The American companies began focusing on deep
sea drilling.

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gwbas1c
The prototype electric car is a far cry from my Leaf!

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rconti
Meanwhile, in Oregon, it seems like the speed limit is still 50 everywhere.

