Star Beacon
April 30, 2008 06:49 pm
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“Happy Days” was new on TV.
Leisure suits were just coming into vogue.
Disco was on its way.
Welcome to 1974.
Oh yeah, and gasoline prices were skyrocketing and there were fears we were running out of the stuff.
Talk about high prices. Gasoline, which hovered around 20 to 30 cents per gallon since World War II, suddenly leaped to 55 cents per gallon.
Can you imagine, $1 doesn’t even get you two gallons of gasoline?
Service stations were left without gasoline, or you were forced to buy the higher premium stuff because that’s all that was left.
President Richard “I Am Not A Crook” Nixon asked service stations to close on Sundays. That really didn’t save any money. There was just a run on gasoline come Monday.
There were other impacts. Little subcompacts like the Chevy Vega and Ford Pinto, which a year or two before went for $2,200 new (yes the comma is in the right place) now could be bought used for $2,200. That’s because they had good gasoline mileage. At 55 cents a gallon, you didn’t want to be stuck with a gas guzzler.
The government cracked down on Detroit, ordering better fuel efficiency. The crackdown may not have been necessary though. Detroit got the message as people ignored American cars for foreign vehicles that got better mileage.
We were told during the energy-rich 1960s that some day, all of that oil beneath the earth would be gone. Maybe not in my lifetime, may be not in yours, but sometime.
And by the 1970s, with cars snaked around the block awaiting a turn at the pumps, that prediction was coming true.
How could it get any worse?
People were told to ride bicycles to work when possible, car pool, there was increased interest in mass transportation, be it buses or trains.
Now flash to today. Gasoline is seven times more expensive. A fillup that cost $5.50 then costs $38.50 today.
It’s even worse than that. We have global warming to contend with.
We learned nothing from the 1970s and we are in far worse shape. Even with inflation, $5.50 in 1974 dollars doesn’t equal $38.50 today. Gasoline is outpacing inflation.
Since 1974, government documents show new-car fuel economy has roughly doubled. The fuel economy of imports has increased roughly one-third. Vehicle weight reductions is one of the reasons.
Yet we continue to burn fossil-fuels at faster rates. There is no talk of closing service stations on Sundays these days. There would be a revolution.
Bush’s solution is the same as the oil industry, drill in pristine government lands. A short-term solution.
John McCain and Hillary Clinton think the government should suspend the federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon between Memorial Day and Labor Day. That adds up to about the amount gasoline has been going up in one week. And it’s an even shorter solution.
Maybe one reason bicycles aren’t pushed more as a transportation solution is the theory bicycles cause more pollution.
Ken Kifer’s Internet bike pages brings up a theory that riding a bicycle causes more pollution than a car.
Yes, the theory goes cars have catalytic converters that help curb emissions. But the human body burns its fuel inefficiently.
And how is food produced? It takes fuel-sucking trucks to ship it. It takes lots of electricity to keep refrigerated.
Well, that’s the theory.
But here’s another point: We eat anyway. Nobody is going to stop eating because they didn’t ride a bicycle that day. So the food is trucked and refrigerated regardless.
My guess is that a bicycle ride for many will result in burned fat and thinner bodies. Americans can afford to burn a few more calories. Better to produce power from blubber than fossil fuels.
Our government officials, our candidates, don’t dare suggest Americans invest more in public transportation, drive less, ride bicycles more, buy smaller vehicles. The solution is always something that doesn’t inconvenience the voter.
We don’t see barren interstates because of high gasoline prices. We don’t see service stations void of customers because of high gasoline prices. We don’t see a huge number of smaller, more efficient vehicles on the roadways. We don’t see a glut of bicycle enthusiasts beating the price of fuel and saving the environment.
People during World War II sacrificed. They stretched, they reused, they drove only when necessary, they grew their own vegetables.
Americans today don’t like to make sacrifices. The government doesn’t want to ask people to make sacrifices. It’s bad for getting votes.
I don’t want to make sacrifices.
But as fuel prices increase, leaving less money for other necessities, something is going to have to give.
Lebzelter is special section editor. E-mail him at bobleb@starbeacon.com.
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A BOB LEBZELTER column