1970s Energy Crisis 1970s

Crisis of the 1970s There was several crisis in the 1970s that contributed to the economic down fall of the United States in the 1970s. The capacity of the crisis was the energy; there was tremendous gas shortages. One of the other big crisis was the continuing of Vietnam War. The war cause production of goods to slow down in the United States and caused unemployment to soar over 6%. In addition, the United States became a consumer of goods and not a producer of goods. The 1970s was to the end of America’s “Golden Age” due to threats from soaring international competition, spiking energy prices, declining productivity and profitability, and soaring inflation and unemployment (Alejandro Reuss). Furthering the energy crisis caused the distrust …show more content…
The energy crisis was one of the worst ever in the United States. People had to wait in line overnight for gas. The government asked citizens not to put up Christmas lights as to not put an extra strain on energy. The United States had helped Jews crave out part of Palestine to promote the state of Israel. Palestine was a Britain controlled territory. Middle East countries did not like that, the Israel state: slowed down production of oil in protest and many wars broke out. United States had slowed down production of oil at home during this time furthermore dependent more on foreign oil.
The most prominent was the war of Yom Kippur War; this war began on the Jewish holy day Yom Kippur. Egypt and Syria attack Israel and Russia contribute arms for these countries while United States and her allies contribute to Israel. The United States thought the Middle East states economy would deteriorate from boycotting the sale of oil to the United States. The exact opposite was true oil prices rose from $3 per barrel to $12. Mistrust was not only among countries in addition amongst the people of the United States and the …show more content…
The contribution to the fall of the “Golden Age” was high unemployment and high deficit. For the strain, America’s deficit was Vietnam War. The Vietnam War shifted the production of goods from goods citizen consumed goods to wartime goods to furnish a military overseas. The production in balances caused controversy over how the government was manipulating the economics of the United States. The unemployment rate rose to 6% by 1973 and was the highest in 14 years (Alejandro Reuss). Unions had taken a strong hold in the United States and for the first time since the 1920s unions was seeing a disenfranchisement with them. The strikes unions called for had become cumbersome and meaningless. The growing cost of a war overseas furthering disgruntlement at home does not make it easy to run a government. The deficit grew with the cost of Vietnam War and domestic spending. Vietnam War cost the United States $167 billion dollars by the end in 1973 (Harvard Sitikoff). Launching a major war and the Great Society simultaneously was a mistake by President Lyndon B. Johnson without a taxation increase (Harvard Sitikoff). The weak American dollar also contribute to the growing deficit and high inflation did not help the growing dissatisfaction with the handling of the American economy. America seen as the colossal capitalist headed for another