I think most of us on here are old enough to remember the last fuel shortage in the mid 70s. I was driving truck back than and many of the companies governed their tucks to 58 mph. The great fathers in washington couldn't wait to cut the speed limit to 55 or lose you federal funds. Our fathers passed laws that the car manufactures had to meet a certain mpg average. All of this and the prices where some where around a $1.00 a gallon.
Here we are a little over 30 years later and this time the barely mention the price of gas. How quick we forget.

BigBen, I have been thinking of the 70's and the oil embargo. I lived in Seattle then, and I remember getting up at the crack of dawn to get in line to get gas for my car before they ran out at, oh, 7:00 IN THE MORNING!

Fortunately, they aren't pulling that stunt these days. Instead, they just raise the prices six times in one day, worse than the stock market! I think 6 times is the most I have seen one gas station increase in one day. That was a year ago.

JJ

Ben:

I remember the 70s, too, and, like DXSMac, we had to wait in long lines for gas, and then could only get ten gallons at a time. I also remember, if you spotted a tanker truck, you would follow it to its destination cause you knew they would open their pumps when he arrived.

Between the oil companies and the pharmaceutical companies, this country is being bled dry. And the idiot in the White House along with the Best Congress Money Can Buy are doing nothing about it. I don't know what the answer is, but I would vote for anybody, black, white, yellow or green, who has the guts and the character to stand up to both the oil companies and the drug cartel. Its shameful!

I also remember the long lines, no GAS signs everyplace you went, 55 MPH speed, and others items. I find it odd that no one in Washington can remember anything or if they do can pass any laws to correct this problem. I think we live on what big oil companies wish to do next. I guess we need cars that run on salt water but then our government will find a way to tax the salt. I do not think much with change over the coming years.

Our next president needs to be somebody who isn't in bed with the oil companies.......

(ducking and running.....)

JJ

I remember the 70's.

THEY remember the 70's, too.

The problem is, there's not enough money in only selling 10 gallons of gas to you at a time.

I also remember that polyester is really itchy.

Other factors that exacerbated the early 70's fuel crunch were:

• During a gas war, you could buy a gal for as low .19. So the increases to .75 and $1.00, represented huge jumps.

• Alternate day gas days and limits on the amount of fuel you could buy really limited when and where you could drive.

As long as we are looking into the past, do you also remember the Energy Summit (or some such moniker) that the then brand new Bush administration held early in 2001 (pre-9/11)? The Congress, the media, and even some of the public wanted to know who attended this meeting and what was discussed/decided. I believe it was Cheney who told everybody (Congress, media, and public) that we did not NEED or have the RIGHT to know anything about this meeting. Although there were some legal attempts to get this information and complaints about the administration's seemingly indefensible secrecy, everything went away after 9/11. They have been as secretive as they can get away with ever since.

From my experience of usually begining my annual RV travels about May 1st every year, I began noticing a trend 5-6 years ago. About the time (5/1) I left for my trip, gas prices would start to rise and, by the time I returned around 6/1, they would have risen 10-30%. Every year this price jump would start a little earlier. By last year it began in early April. This was always expained as the seasonal switch from winter to summer gas. I never quite understood or believed this explanation. One reason for my disbelief was that the public would finally start complaining and the rise would stop and usually go back down slightly (not as much as they had risen, of course) in June for a couple weeks. Once the travel season began in July the increases returned. To me, this "trend" seems to be more of a planned sequence of events rather than an economic coincidence. Let's raise prices in the spring until the public complians, ease up a little to placate the fools, and then let the summer demand take over. This year, of course, there has already been big increases in March. Since the public is already complaining, maybe the "appeasement lull" will take place by the time I hit the road in May. I hope so, but doubt it.

Well, back to the NCAA tournament.

I agree. However, last year, they did something weird. Everyone was anticipating a HUGE jump right before Memorial Day. Well, it jumped right before that, then went DOWN on Friday of "Memorable Day weekend." That was a shock!

JJ

I remember, as we had topped off the RV tank in anticipation of a price blowout!
Interesting...no one is complaining about Citco gas these days...

FosterImposters: I'm not complaining about Citgo gas--I just won't buy fuel from them if I have another option. Chavez is a madmad and our purchases help prop him up!

I was in my early teens in the '70's when the gas shortage was taking place. I remember waiting in the long lines for gas that strung a long way. Even remember my dad running out of gas while waiting in line to get gas. Also had a T-shirt that said, "I Spent My Vacation At A Gas Station".

Just an update to my 3/28 post on this thread: When I got back from my annual spring trip to MS and LA on Memorial Day Weekend, the gas at my neighborhood station was $4.29 and everybody was in an uproar over the skyrocketing prices. Prices went up for about another week, then stabalized, and even went down a little. I went by the station today and the price is again $4.29. The trend I mentioned in my 3/28 post seems to be continuing. Jack up the prices in April/May, after public outcry, ease up in June. Now that the travel season is about to go into full swing, I expect prices to start climbing again - just in time for my ( and a lot of folks) summer travels. Please, let me be wrong.

Well I remember the lines and the shortages and even adn odd days and the like.. It is market pricing now or we would have shortages now but China and India are using way more fuel and will continue too. There was a study done that if you gave every family in China a moped there would not be enough gas for them to fill them.... Now that is scary.....

We will be this way till we have much more in the way of alternative energy sources. We need to make all the power plants nuclear and stop the long process it takes to even break ground. Start now the plans are safe the stupid snail darter or some other critter will die soon anyway so build the things.... this will clean our air and bury the waste in nevada sure. Why not there is lots of desert out there and no people in it. But, no we will moan and cry over every little thing and nothing is going to get done at all......but when gas hit 7 bucks a gallon things will happen we just are not at the pain point yet.. It is coming..... I can see it and we will have economies fail around the world and we will get relief but the middle east will not like it when we use a lot less in the US but China will soak it up so they will be fine....

Well I remember the lines and the shortages and even adn odd days and the like.. It is market pricing now or we would have shortages now but China and India are using way more fuel and will continue too. There was a study done that if you gave every family in China a moped there would not be enough gas for them to fill them.... Now that is scary.....

We will be this way till we have much more in the way of alternative energy sources. We need to make all the power plants nuclear and stop the long process it takes to even break ground. Start now the plans are safe the stupid snail darter or some other critter will die soon anyway so build the things.... this will clean our air and bury the waste in nevada sure. Why not there is lots of desert out there and no people in it. But, no we will moan and cry over every little thing and nothing is going to get done at all......but when gas hit 7 bucks a gallon things will happen we just are not at the pain point yet.. It is coming..... I can see it and we will have economies fail around the world and we will get relief but the middle east will not like it when we use a lot less in the US but China will soak it up so they will be fine....

I’m sorry to water down so much opinion with a few facts:

• The first and foremost fact is that Neither Congress or the President (any President) can repeal or veto the Law of Supply and Demand.
• American Petroleum Institute statistics show that world oil production currently stands at 85 million barrels per day while worldwide demand is currently 86.4 million barrels per day, a 1.4 million barrel daily shortfall.
• Exxon, the largest domestic oil producer controls only 2% of the daily world production.
• Recent profit margins from Yahoo finance – Exxon 10.85%, Bank of America 21.03%, Google 24.89%, and one of the greens, First Solar, a nice 31.54%. Coca Cola’s profit margin in over twice that of Exxon, but there is no outrage over the price of Coke.
• In 2007 Exxon made 40 billion dollars in profits, but paid 105 billion dollars in taxes, and ultimately, you know who pays those taxes.
• This country is estimated to be sitting on as much as 80 billion (with a “B”) barrels of easily recoverable oil counting ANWR, the coastal areas, the outer continental shelf, the great lakes region and other areas where we are banned by congress from drilling.
• Additionally, the Rocky Mountain oil shale reserve is estimated at 1.5 trillion (with a “T”) barrels.
• At current domestic consumption levels, the above two figures alone equal enough to power the nation for 200 years with NO imports.
• With 27% of the world’s coal supply, we are the Saudi Arabia of coal, and we possess the technology to produce a synthetic coal carbon liquid fuel that could power the nation for generations.

Now I will add some opinion of my own. As a recent creator of a new small business (RV Park) after retirement from a previous career, I am terrified by the number of people who look to the government to solve these problems. In my view the government is the problem, not the solution. Canada currently drills under the Great Lakes, but we can’t. China currently drills within 60 mile of the Florida coast, but OH NO not us. France currently produces a large majority of their electricity from Nuclear Power plants, and they don’t have the vast Nevada wasteland to bury their nuclear waste. We are prevented from drilling in ANWR, a huge tundra wasteland that is several hundred miles from the nearest tree and that very few people have ever seen or ever will. If congress would only loosen the shackles and let our people drill, the announcement alone would immediately place downward pressure on the oil futures market; this would lower oil prices long before any production would come on line. When the current party in control of Congress took over in 2006 and announced that they had a plan to lower oil prices, gas prices averaged $2.25/gal – this is a perfect example of how government “solves" our problems. I very much prefer the free market solution to problems. The government has never produced one iota of energy, and taxing the profits of those that do produce energy will only drive prices higher.

Most excellent!
Remind us what you did in your previous career...?
Cheers!

Uh, I hate to admit it, but I worked for the Federal government for 32 years, the last ten in D.C., where I really learned to hate my job because I had to deal with politics and politicians. Now, in retirement, I love what I am doing. I am able to employ up to 13 people, all of whom pay taxes that otherwise would not be paid. This is what fuels our economy, not government handouts and bailouts.

HEY!!! I'm a retired Fed, and I admit it.....25 years! I know what you mean about DC, I had to do my share of TDY (the Fed term for business travel for the rest of you....) to Washington DC. Of course, you know why people transferred to DC, it was to get the higher grades for their "High Three" upon retirement..... If you're a GS-11, the same job in DC is "somehow" graded as GS-13...... Go figure......

JJ

Whew! Really enjoyed your post. Then...a moment of pure panic.
Soooo glad you didn't work with an oil lobby in a past life!
Cheers!