Energy is the lifeblood of industry and the economy. It is how we produce, transport and utilize goods and services which drive the economic engine.
Most of us who are sufficiently “seasoned” became acutely aware of how energy use affects the US economy with the Arab oil embargo of 1973. This not only brought high gasoline prices and rationing, but caused higher prices in most goods and services in addition to a stock market crash.
Not quite as dramatic, but history did repeat itself during the Gulf War and Hurricane Katrina, where oil prices spiked and the economy tanked.
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