Word: rationing
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...Simon's first and most urgent jobs will be getting the Administration to make up its mind about rationing. The possibility of having to ration gasoline and other fuels has been a nightmare haunting the White House since the Arab oil embargo began. The President, who abhors rationing politically, ideologically and administratively, managed to avoid even using the word when he went on television last week to outline a series of less stringent conservation and allocation measures. But by week's end the relentless press of events was sweeping the Administration closer to the dreaded decision...
...financial penalty would compensate electricity customers for the energy loss incurred by steam users who exceeded their ration. The ensuing electrical shortage would force Cambridge Electric to buy energy from other New England utilities at double the company's own generating cost, Dery said...
Happily, though, the choice is not strictly either/or. Some combinations of rationing and free markets are possible, intriguing and likely. One ingenious idea gaining some Government attention is to add to rationing what would amount to a federally operated black market (or "white market" as planners call it). Ration coupons would be issued in roughly equal amounts to everyone holding a driver's license, but they could be transferred, unlike World War II coupons...
Every driver might get a card entitling him to purchase a stated, small ration and pay the current gasoline taxes. If he bought additional gallons, the Government would tax him heavily at the pump. Everyone would be assured of a basic supply, but people who needed or wanted more could buy it, and the Government would collect additional revenue. Prices would rise, too, under this plan-or indeed any plan...
...samples cautions: "Don't choose anything with cotton-it's sky-high." In Bar Harbor, Me., a manufacturer of sea bags says that he is going out of business because he cannot get any more duck cloth. In San Francisco, Levi Strauss & Co. has begun informally to ration jeans and other denim goods to clothing stores. Women's Wear Daily predicts that manufacturers of cotton denim will not be able to accept new customers for "at least a couple of years...