Energy: The Oil Squeeze of '79

Huge jumps in costs are the latest peril of the petro-pinch

Has the U.S. learned anything from its energy agonies? Apparently not. Five years after the Arab embargo gripped the nation in petroleum paralysis, the economy remains as vulnerable as ever to upheavals in faraway lands. All winter long the turmoil in Iran has brought chilling reminders of that fact, and last week came some of the scariest yet. It was hard to tell which were more frightening: signs that oil prices were about ready to leap again, or Washington's seeming impotence and inaction....

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