Since I was 20 in 1968 I can address this somewhat. In 1969 I could still buy regular gas for my college 1966 VW Bug at Mohawk Gas Station in San Pedro where my best friend then attending UCLA always went to fill up his College 1959 Oval Window VW Bug (36 horse power but great mileage). I think my 1966 was around 50 or 60 horsepower sort of like a large motorcycle in power then.
The Arab OPEC nations formed OPEC and decided to raise the price of oil worldwide together. This was a devastating blow for the world because for example, Americans (of every age were very rich compared to now relatively speaking. For example in 1969 a 17 year old white male could make enough money as a garbage collector without a college degree or even a high school diploma to buy a home and support about 5 people by himself and own one or more cars. And this is at 17 years of age! This was also true if you were a carpenter even if you were working non-union nationwide at that time at age 17 without a high school diploma
By 1980 17 cents a gallon was up to around $1.11 a gallon.
Imagine what would happen if Gasoline over any 10 year period increased by 6 and 1/2 times?
It devastated the U.S. economy on top of the waste of money in the Viet Nam war. Many people like myself believed the U.S. government was going bankrupt and collapsing then. I myself bought inexpensive beautiful land and built my family a home on it in order to financially survive these times and because we loved doing this too. Not having to pay rent and only taxes on the land was a big help in raising our 3 children too then in 1980 because they were 5, 6 and 8 years old then.
So, the Arab Oil Embargo devastated the whole world and made everyone much poorer as a direct result. Life in the U.S. changed completely slowly becoming what it is now.
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