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> the supply of gas never matched the demand for it That was more a result of the fact that, as you mentioned, it was the 1970s gas crisis.
by favorited 7y ago
> the supply of gas never matched the demand for it
That was more a result of the fact that, as you mentioned, it was the 1970s gas crisis.
- James_Henry 7y agoWhat about the gluts then?
- WalterBright 7y agoThe gas crisis was a direct result of the DOE's oil and gas price controls.
- orwin 7y agoIn europe too? Please explain or take me to a website with a complete explanation of why US supply control fucked up western europe gas prices, i find the stories behind the crisis interesting.
- WalterBright 7y agoI don't know what happened in Europe at the time. I wasn't there.
- favorited 7y agoBut you are aware of the fact that there were several global energy crises throughout the 1970s, right? The handful of wars and revolutions that took place in the Middle East, in which the US certainly participated to some extent, caused global oil shortages.
- WalterBright 7y agoMay I point out the Gulf Wars 1 and 2 recently, with no gas lines. Saddam set all Iraq's oil wells on fire, no gas lines. That long running war between Iraq and Iran, again, no gas lines. Gas refineries blow up now and then in the US, with drastic cuts in production, and no gas lines. I remember when Reagan repealed gas allocation and price controls. The gas lines disappeared the next day. Not the next week, or month. The next day. And never came back. Quite a remarkable coincidence?
- favorited 7y agoLines at gas stations weren't the crisis. The fact that there wasn't enough supply to meet the demand was the crisis. But price controls allowed more people to afford any gasoline. It would have been 4-5x as expensive without price controls. Of course there were gas lines at times in the 70s – there was an artificial limit on the price of gasoline. And the supply was repeatedly cut to almost zero, as oil exporting countries nationalized oil companies, went through violent revolution, or embargoed countries who militarily supported Israel. Carter had announced a plan to phase out Nixon's price controls, and Regan removed them after he beat Carter.
- WalterBright 7y ago> It would have been 4-5x as expensive without price controls. There's no evidence of that. > there was an artificial limit on the price of gasoline Such price controls lead to shortages. > the supply was repeatedly cut to almost zero That never happened. There was plenty of domestic production. And there were gluts in Florida simultaneous with long lines in California. This is explainable only by allocation controls. > Carter had announced a plan to phase out Nixon's price controls Yet he didn't. Reagan did, as his first act, with the stroke of a pen. Reagan didn't phase it out. He just ended it. Prices didn't go up, either. None of the predicted calamities happened. The gas crisis was a fake crisis caused by government price and allocation controls. We've never had gas lines again, despite plenty of oil shocks, such as multiple MAJOR wars in the middle east.
- favorited 7y ago> There's no evidence of that. Aside from the fact that the price of oil was 4-5x in Europe compared to the US. >> there was an artificial limit on the price of gasoline > Such price controls lead to shortages. That was the whole point. You constrain the price so everyone can afford a little of it, rather than a small percent affording for of it. >> the supply was repeatedly cut to almost zero > That never happened. OAPEC literally embargoed countries that financed Israel (hello, United States) for months at a time. Great for Texan oil companies! Bad for everyone else. > Yet he didn't. Reagan did, as his first act His first act was literally in movies. His 2nd act was keeping the Black Panthers from arming themselves in CA. At least his third act was negotiating dirty deals with Iran. The Contras hadn't offered enough money yet. > such as multiple MAJOR wars in the middle east Oh, those wars where Western armies marched in to secure oil fields? I can't imagine why Western oil companies would do well in that market...