do you remember how bad the gas prices were in 1979?

Question

here's a chart showing what it would be in todays dollars-
http://inflationdata.com/inflation/images/charts/Oil/Oil_inflation_chart.htm

now see what oil costs today...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071025/oil_prices.html

the US is in for a real rough ride, very soon.

for those too young to remember gas was rationed-there were odd/even days you buy gas depending on the last number of your license plate. before the gas crisis, gas was so cheap, nobody had locking gas caps. the oil crisis took down the entire economy for a good 10 years...mired in unemployment.

Answer 1

I don't remember $3/gallon of gas in 1979.
Try this chart: http://www.randomuseless.info/gasprice/gasprice.html
I think yours could have been secretly
manufactured by the Bush Administration.

suthrnly...
Minimum wage in 1979 was $2.90 per hour, not $1.80 http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/chart.htm
No wonder you didn't provide a source.

Answer 2

I was living in Utah at that time and remember well. The price hovered around 93 cents and a dollar 7 for regular leaded. Yeah, the gas was still leaded then. There was no lines or rationing there, but was in Los Angeles and some other large cities.

Yes many had locking gas caps well before that. I had locking gas caps in 1969. But they were never used by me to keep people from stealing my gas. My reasons were to keep kids from adding things. I had known of people having rocks or newspaper added without them. That gets real expensive. If someone wants your gas and you have a locking gas cap, they'll simply pop it loose with a tire iron and add some body damage to your losses. On trucks with two tanks, they'll cut your hoses for the gas. What they don't take will soak into and pollute.

Answer 3

Yep, though it's an exageration to say that it impacted the economy for the following decade. Actually, by the early 80s, when energy prices came back down, inflationary preasures had eased. There was a recession, brought about, in part, by monetary policy meant to curb inflation, but most of the 80's were economically pretty decent. Not as wildly so as the dot-com boom of the 90s, but not bad.

One difference was that in the 70s, it was a formal embargo causing an actual shortage that pushed up prices, while today, it's all about /fear/ of suply disruptions and rampant speculation pushing up prices. That's not something that can go on forever.

Answer 4

Remember it well.Had a brand new 1979 Pinto Hatchback.It got 23 MPG.Friends in T-Birds and Trans-Ams couldn't understand why I bought the Pinto.That was the last time I saw .38 per gallon gas.Rationing wasn't bad in my area,east Texas oil field.
Also remember earning 4.25 an hour as an accounting clerk.(that would be a skilled job)
Carter and his BS economic policy's had boosted interest rates to 18%+,and I'm not talking about credit card rates,I'm talking about secured loans and morgages.
I think I'll accept 3.00 gallon gas with the low interest rates and the level of earnings I have now.

Answer 5

Great question, although I was only two years old in 1979, I heard plenty of stories, later on in life. Gas prices are through the roof, I recently went on vacation by car, and spent more on gas then the Hotel, and the Hotel was $100+.

Answer 6

When the feds finally figure it out that WAR is the biggest mistake possible then you can think about other things such as whether electric cars are advantageous! We can have electric cars right now if the feds were to permit diode reactors to power the vehicles. We could remove all of the waste nuclear deposits and supply a mere sliver of nuclear fuel in each vehicle. The dangers are already present and disposal won't be necessary when we are using the waste for fuel.

Answer 7

Our family had two cars, one was even, the other was odd. We also had a siphon pump so it didn't realy matter.

We took to parking the cars inches from each other, gas cap to gas cap. We weren't the only ones with siphon pumps. There were a lot of "insomniacs" with siphons too. This was in the day before all cars had locking gas caps.

Answer 8

I was young but I have heard the stories. It's scary because I know I am very reliant on my car even though I'd rather ride a bike or walk but I can't because the distance is too far.
The cost of living is ridiculously high. I wish I could live closer but we can't afford to. We aren't alone.

Answer 9

The problem with high gas prices is it affects everything, down to the tomatos we buy for dinner at the grocery store. There are people who have six figure incomes who consider themselves working class these days. We are seriously headed for trouble and most people have their head in the sand or are just blathering about partisan politics.

Answer 10

Yes I remember, I was in my early twenties. I also remember that we had an Energy Plan then that focused on alternative energy sources with the goal of getting the US off its dependency on OPEC. That plan offered tax incentives for people to insulate their homes and for solar system. I was proud that we were doing something smart about the problems.
-- April 18, 1977
http://www.mnforsustain.org/energy_speech_president_carter.htm

During one of his State of the Union addresses, Bush stated that our energy problems today were because we didn't have an Energy Policy before. What he did NOT mention was the reason for that was Reagan and H.W. Bush had dismantled the one Jimmy Carter had implemented 30 years ago. Bush's 'new & improved' Energy Plan provides $8 billion dollars in 'welfare' payments to the oil business, and rebates to buy gas-guzzling Hummers. I'm NOT proud of this farce of an "Energy Plan"!
-- 28 Years Later - a comparison:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0503-22.htm

Answer 11

I remember falling asleep in the back seat while on-line for gas for what seemed like hours (we had a Dodge Dart). We were even numbers...that was the most boring childhood memory!

Thanx for reminding me...LOL