Word: rationalized
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Nixon Administration abhors the very idea of gasoline rationing, considers rationing unnecessary, and lacks the statutory authority to order it even if it wanted to. Nonetheless, Federal Energy Boss William Simon last week began gearing up the machinery to impose rationing, just in case. He ordered the Federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing to start printing a three-month supply of ration coupons, and announced a comprehensive-and imaginative-stand-by plan for their use. Key feature: a kind of Government-sanctioned black market or, in the words of policy planners, a "white market...
...highly detailed for one that the Administration will try hard not to invoke. Every one of the nation's 118 to 120 million licensed drivers over the age of 18 would be mailed a card entitling him or her to buy a month's supply of ration coupons, most likely at a bank or post office. Price: $1 per packet, to defray the $1.4 billion annual cost of the program. The basic ration would be a rather spartan 32 to 35 gallons a month, enough to permit only about 100 miles of driving a week in the average...
...plan is complete down to some intricate details designed to avert cheating and frustrate would-be black marketeers. The ration coupons will be about a third the size of a dollar bill and, like currency, they will be printed by a difficult-to-counterfeit intaglio process. When a driver bought gas and handed over his coupons at the pump, he would have to sign his name and write his license-plate number on each one, so that they could not readily be reused. The coupons would be good for only 60 days, so that speculators would be discouraged from hoarding...
...businesses will be on a three-day week determined by a rota system-half working Mondays through Wednesdays, the other half Thursdays through Saturdays. Industries that depend on a continuous supply of power, such as oil refineries and steel furnaces, will have to live with 65% of their normal ration. The food industry will be exempt from the restrictions, as will such essential services as railways, airports, doctors' offices and newspapers...
...government-sensitive to shopkeepers, who make up a large proportion of the population-has partially relaxed the ban. Originally forbidden until 3 a.m. Monday, driving is now permitted after 8 Sunday evening. The Netherlands will drop gasless Sundays altogether January 7, when it becomes the first European country to ration...