Wednesday, November 17, 2021

The worst inflation I ever saw in the U.S. was caused by OPEC in the 1970s

Before OPEC which was created mostly by mideast nations to raise oil prices, life was pretty good here in the U.S. for the average person. In 1969 I could still by regular Gas in San Pedro for 17 cents a gallon. I owned a 1966 VW Bug then for college which gave me 30 miles per gallon. So, for 17 cents I could drive 30 miles which was pretty good for 1969. I could drive all the way to Mt. Shasta for under 10 dollars likely too. And minimum wage was around 1 dollar and hour so even if you were making minimum wage you could work one hour and buy at least 5 gallons of gas for your car or truck.

So, at 30 miles per gallon it was about 600 miles to Mt. Shasta from Los Angeles so I needed 20 gallons of gas each way so I could get 600 miles on $3.40 worth of gas if I could buy it that cheap all the way there. so, it would be under 10 dollars of gas all the way from Los Angeles to Mt. Shasta and back for friends and I in a VW Bug that got 30 miles per gallon of gas then.

However, then OPEC hit and gas went from 17 cents a gallon in 1969 to around 1 dollar a gallon or more by the end of the 1970s. So, this basically wiped out what life was like in the 1960s by 1980 to where life that was once wonderful for the average person turned to shit by 1980 economically speaking at least for lower wage earners nationwide.

Also, as gas increased in price literally everything cost more too from food to clothes to whatever because everything you bought had to be hauled by something that ran on gas or diesel oil and the cost transferred to you the buyer at this point.

Now, what is happening is people don't want to die of Covid like their friends and relatives did already. So, they are quitting jobs that they don't feel are safe enough to keep them alive. This is the main driver of Inflation now of people trying not to die worldwide. Those that don't choose not to die are now dying in droves all over the world and people are noticing this. So, you either do what it takes to stay alive or you are soon gone. It's very simple.

So, from 1969 to around 1979 we went from 17cents a gallon to about 1 dollar a gallon for regular gas. This basically raised at least gas prices and everything else that had to be hauled by trucks up around 500% within 10 years time.

What I'm thinking is that if people keep dying of Covid worldwide like they are now, especially religious non-medical science people then we could see another 500% rise in energy prices like we did  from 1969 to 1980. The reason you will see a rise in energy costs is because people won't drive trucks or many other jobs because they are trying to stay alive now and not get sick and die of Covid.

So, if you can afford to put solar cells or wind generators on your property it might save you thousands of dollars in the next 10 years or so in utility bills and gasoline or diesel to get somewhere.

People who went solar up until now mostly were trying to reduce gasoline costs for their children and grandchildren. But now, putting solar on your roof might also be about just plain economic survival within the next 10 years time IF you have enough sun coming down where you live during the year.

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