Call Me Stormy

Finding righteous currents in turbulent times

Archive for the tag “Oil Crisis of 1973”

Truckers May Stop Oct. 1

Okay so…diesel prices are skyrocketing, *isolated* fuel outages are being reported across Michigan, Florida, and Texas, airlines are cutting flights, and social media has been flooded with calls for truckers to park their rigs beginning October 1. And no, there is no ~officially confirmed~ nationwide trucker strike—but when operating costs exceed what a load pays…does it really matter? Trucks can be priced out of being operational.

In this follow-up investigation, we examine America’s tightening diesel supply, refinery disruptions in the Midwest, Saudi Arabia’s canceled oil shipments to Europe and the ongoing and recent attacks on their infrastructure, the declining Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Iran’s heavily subsidized gasoline prices (literally pennies for a liter of gas) and the economic pressure now spreading through trucking, farming, aviation and food distribution.

We also cover the history of the 1973–1974 oil crisis, when rising fuel costs helped trigger an eleven-day independent trucker shutdown, and ask what happens when modern supply disruptions collide with historically strained inventories and an economy built around constant transportation (spoiler: it’s not good). Here’s more from Really Graceful.

Toilet-Paper Shortage of 1973

In the light of the toilet-paper panic of 2020, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, we harken back to December 1973 when tensions were high over rising oil and gas prices, and a joke by late-night talk show legend Johnny Carson only intensified matters. The oil crisis meant that huge populations of the United States had to adapt to gas rationing put in place. The long lines made people wary, but it only got worse as furthers restrictions were placed on electricity and heat as well. So it was understandable that an offbeat joke by Carson on “The Tonight Show” about a shortage of toilet paper–which there was none–sent people into a frenzy. Here’s the rest of the story from Sparqle.

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Here’s the footage of Carson’s monologue on December 19, 1973 that set off a toilet-paper shortage across the nation.

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