The lines are gone, but America’s vulnerability to global oil shocks hasn’t disappeared—it’s just changed form.

There was a time—not so long ago—when Americans didn’t just complain about the price of gasoline. They wondered whether they could get any at all.

In the early 1970s, while a 3rd year law student at Brooklyn Law School living with my wife in Brooklyn’s Canarsie neighborhood, as oil-producing nations asserted control over supply and imposed an embargo in response to U.S. support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War, the result was immediate and visible. Long lines snaked from gas stations. “No Gas Today” signs became a daily sight. Tempers flared. Daily routines were disrupted.

The federal and state governments responded with rationing schemes that now seem almost surreal. Drivers were assigned “odd-even” days based on their license plates. You could only buy gasoline on certain days, whether you needed it or not. And even when it was your turn, you couldn’t necessarily fill up.

In some places, stations imposed strict purchase limits—sometimes as low as three dollars per transaction.  And some required that you be a regular repair customer before they’d sell........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)