[aldente]

Here are some guys that try to explain why traffic stalls. Gas lines are closely related I suppose...traffic jam

That picture is from 1973 by the way!

[RonMN]

I remember gas lines when i was little. I also remember my dad saying that gas lines would go away if if they changed the 8 gallon max rule to an 8 gal minimum rule.

I asked him how that would change anything...he said the problem was people stopping to fill up when they still had half a tank of gas in their car.

Well they did end up changing it to an 8 gallon minimum rule and the gas lines just vanished (if you only put in 3 gallons you still had to pay for . This to me, said it was simply people in panic mode is what caused all the gas lines.

[aahala]

Sharply higher prices for a good will often lead to increased demand
in the early stages. It's called panic buying. Users want to buy before
prices go even higher.

[RonMN]

that was supposed to be an 8...not a smiley with sunglasses.

[JoeW]

Jackass politicians cause gas lines! If you let the market work the way it's supposed to, then you can have vendors selling gasoline for $10/gal or $20/gal and you can kiss those lines good-bye.

You don't regulate it. You let it be. If you want to make it easier on joe worker, you make laws that encourage companies to offer 3- or 4-day work weeks instead of 5, and then he can go to the gas station once every 10 days instead of once every 7.

Government rationing is the dumbest idea ever. Let the price rise to its natural level, and people will ration it themselves!

[NEOPO]

If that were the case then we would be paying $5 - $10 + a gallon and most people could kiss their jobs good bye as well.

The effects of this would ripple throughout the economy raising costs of everything from toothbrushes to toilet seats.

I predict long lines at the fast food chains because no one that speaks english will want those jobs

que?

Like banks - stores only have enough goods in stock at any one time for maybe 10-15% of the population.

If 20-30% suddenly require toothbrushes and toilet seats then only about half will actually get them.
Come back tomorrow kid - have a nice walmarty day!!!

[bruin]

Well an 8 gallon minimum would certainly explain long lines. Take your Humvee driver - he can go maybe 50 miles between between fillups. Add in a good commute, he'll have to go every day.

[Pops]

Demand can’t exceed supply.

Stations didn’t receive gas whenever they wanted, they received it when it was available; you lined up so you got yours before the station ran out.

[Carmiac]

The other way to look at it is that, when there is no government interference, high prices don't cause long lines, long lines cause high prices due to basic supply/demand pricing.

[Keith_McClary]

"What causes gas lines?"

They are caused by the need to connect your gas tank to your engine.

[I_Like_Plants]

Geez... I'm old enough to remember that, I remember in the 70's gas crunch everyone was broke, so they'd wait in line and then buy like 3 gallons of gas!

As for the language problem at restaurants, that's been solved by numbers!! You order a #51 and a #67, which I had earlier, bun, which is Vietnamese vermicelli, with pork and shrimp and don't forget the nuc mam which is a sweet fish sauce, and ca phe sua da which is.... you just have to try it!!!! yum!!!!!!

Japanese places have scale models of the food!! It's hilarious, they have the most coherent, cohesive society on the planet, and they go beyond pictures, they'll either have plastic models of each dish, or at one local place they'll cook up one of the specials and have that sitting there as an example! Point and grunt!

The language problem only occurs in "American" places like micky-d's, I don't see the language logjam at Mexican, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc places, funny thing.