jimmy101 wrote:
Having lived through both those events I can say you've got them wrong.
The US gov't tried to convert mileage etc to metric in the 70's and 80's. The huge public backlash forced the gov't to abandon the effort. It had nothing to do with lazyness of the gov't and everything to do with politicians getting reelected and the laziness of the public.
The gas stations did not try to rip people off when the converted, briefly, to liters. The converted for one reason only, the pump displays could not do prices above 99.9 cents per unit volume.
I also lived through the events. It is true there was huge public resistance to the conversion to Kilometers. I agree on that point. On the second point, I about fell out of my chair.. WTF?? It is true that many pumps would display the 2 digits plus .9. Many of those were mechanical and could not be converted to metric. Most of the stations converting got new pumps. I remember the shiny new pumps. Many of them also displayed XX.9, but because many vehicles would now hold over 99 liters (RV's) the pumps were limited to the amount they could dispense. The places limiting sales due to the limited number of digits on the pump were fairly few. Most metric pumps were electronic with digital displays. The resistance was mostly the public perception that anything over $1.00/gallon was price gouging. 33 cents/Liter was considered a rip-off.
Government stepped in and capped gas prices in many places. This led to refiners halting production, limits ot odd/even license plate gas purchases, limits on purchases, the 3 flags, Red - Sold out, Yellow, emergency services only, and green, we have gas. This shortage was artificial. Fuel storage farms were filmed in IR in the sun to see how low they were (fuel cooled the heated metal in the sun so the temperature can be read) and the truth became known, the tanks were full to the top. When the cap was lifted, suddenly there was plenty of gas. It was easy to blame the oil embargo, but hording by the distributors spiked the price to very profitable levels. The amounts in the storage tanks could not be hidden from IR photography.
I remember driving across Eastern Oregon through several small towns, of No Gas, No Gas, No Gas and finally parked in a small ghost town at the only station for the night to wait for the fuel truck in the morning. I lived price controls. I know the result first hand.
Pulling into a gas station and being limited to only meant sitting in one line, then again at the next station, and again at the next. This is the result.
This is what scares me with health care reform to control costs. Treatment options are going to go away just like gas did in the 1970's. MRI, Open Heart Surgery, Kidney Transplants, etc will become rare.
Take two aspirin for the pain and call me in the morning will become standard as the people in line for services back up blocks long.
