The "common wisdom" is that Jimmy Carter was to blame for the
gas crises in the 70s. Many use them as examples that Democrats
can't be trusted on economic issues. But it's not that simple.
Jimmy Carter got a bad rap! There were two "oil shocks" in the
70s. The first was the increase in the price in the fall of
1973. This was a result of Nixon devaluing the dollar and
abandoning the gold guarantee. See the Chronology below. The
second was in the summer of 1979. It was the result of
individually logical actions that were collectively irrational.
John Sterman, in Business Dynamics, Systems Thinking for a
Complex World, includes an assignment Challenge (p. 212) on the
oil shock in the summer of 1979. He explains what caused the
long gas lines in the Instructors Manual, p. 82: So, where did
the gas go in 1979? The total inventory of gas in the system
remained nearly constant. But the actions of nervous drivers
moved the gas from below ground tanks at the corner gas stations
to above ground rolling storage [in vehi