Gas prices, at record highs, recall WWII rationing, 1970s oil shocks

• The U.S. has targeted “the main artery of Russia’s economy” by banning oil imports, President Joe Biden said this week. But Americans will continue to pay escalating prices at the pump.
• The U.S. also saw sharp increases in crude oil prices in the 1970s, stemming from the Yom Kippur War and Arab oil embargo in 1973 and the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979.
• What can the U.S. learn from its past? “Unlike in the 1970s, where these were kind of pipe dreams, we’re really on the verge of a sort of renewable future,” one expert told USA TODAY.

At 14 years old, Betty Heuser used to stand in line for what seemed like an eternity to collect gasoline ration cards for her father during World War II.

“It was a pain in the you-know-where,” Heuser recalled. “You couldn’t really go anywhere except back and forth to work because you didn’t have enough gas.”