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Homework answers / question archive / Fond memories of 1978… Ramon: “Mom, don’t forget to stop at Sav-On’s (CVS in 2018), they’ve got the new issues of Mad and Crack magazines I want you to buy
Fond memories of 1978…
Ramon: “Mom, don’t forget to stop at Sav-On’s (CVS in 2018), they’ve got the new issues of Mad and Crack magazines I want you to buy. They’re only .60 ct. each. Please, mom…”
Lorraine: “Ok, baby, just let Momma stop and buy some gas, you know it’s my day to purchase.”
After waiting patiently in line for twenty minutes, Lorraine finds out there’s no gas…
Attendant: (Back then you’d have one “pump” your gas): “Sorry, ma’am, you just missed the last bit of gas at .85 cents per gallon, regular. We should get some more day after tomorrow, which, by the look of the numbers on your license plate, you can fill up then…but get here early”
Lorraine: “What time?”
Attendant: “Oh, I’d say about 6AM. That way you’ll be first in the queue…that’s if no one else beats you to it. Hell, I wouldn’t have these darn lines if they’d allow me to charge a normal price.”
Ramon: “Mom, let’s go…the mag’s, remember?”
Lorraine: “Would you shut your little butt up! I’m already low on fuel and have to come back in a couple of days because of this shortage and you’re bugging me about those darn, silly magazines! I’m so glad your Pa got custody of your little so-and-so butt, Lawd knows!”
Ramon: *&%$#@-I’ll tell dad’s wife…
Bruised and bloodied, needless to say, Ramon didn’t get his Mad or Cracked (cracked skull, yes) that day, but visited Kaiser Hospital after Lorraine calmed down.
As for the economics involved which is what this little SNL skit –pretty close to authentic, actually- pertains to, you need to plug in to Google “gas lines, 1978,” “Oil crisis,” “price ceilings,” and you’ll be able to explain what was going on in the U.S.A. with the price of oil during that period here on the DB.
By the way, Lorraine drove a Desert Sage colored Lexus, 250 model, and didn't have to worry about the price of “Superior” grade gasoline right up until she passed in Sept '18. Love you mom, and wish you were here to give me the bruises I so often deserved! :)
In 1979, following the Iranian Revolution which dethroned the then incumbent monarchical leader of Iran, Shah Mohammed Reza, the international oil and petroleum market encountered a major supply-side crisis or adverstisty characterized by a shortage in the global supply of crude oil and petroleum. The overall or total supply or crude oil and petroleum decreased considerably following the revolution and the price of crude oil nearly doubled to almost $39.50 per barrel in the international market. This is considered as a major oil price shock in the United States as increasingly rising prices led to a significant reduction in the overall oil consumption in the country impelled by a widespread panic or fear among the consumers or buyers in the domestic market in the US. The overall market share of OPEC fell dramatically and many oil companies in the global market started looking for the extraction or production of alternative energy resources. Aside from the political and diplomatic attributes of rising oil price in the global market, the increasing gasoline prices in the domestic market in the US had further being impelled by a rigorous oil price regulation enforced by the US givernment during the same time. Price regulation by the government along with various quantitative regulations enforced by the federal regulators essentially led to limited or constrained oil supply in the domestic oil market thereby contributing to the crude oil shortage in the domestic market already generated followed by the revolutionary period. Consistent and sometimes higher consumer demand for gasoline and shortage of adequate oil supply eventually caused the oil price to increase sharply at the individual pumps and gas stations as many consumers had to wait for hours and even days to refuel their vehicles. During this time, the federal government officially allowed only few small-scale refineries to commercially sell cried oil in the domestic market in the US which did not have the required production capabilities to adequately fulfill the domestic consumer demand in the market thereby exacerbating the existing crisis.
