The guys with money will still be able to afford as much gas as they want. Only the little guys will suffer.

— Rita Gibson, a Boston delicatessen owner, 1977

“Slap a 5¢-per-gal. tax on gasoline each year if conservation goals are not met.” That’s how Time Magazine described Jimmy Carter’s proposed gas tax shortly after he took office and declared the energy crisis to be the “moral equivalent of war.” But people had adjusted to OPEC’s price tripling and were getting complacent. No one foresaw that the Iranian revolution would soon trigger another doubling of the oil price.