ABSTRACT
Organization of Petroleum Companies (OPEC) decision to embargo the United States (US) was the fatal, as well as the most important factor, in permanently crippling US global economic influence, though OPEC countries had combined economic activity that was less than 10 percent of the US As oil is global commodity, it does not matter what country is embargoed, the global market is impacted through higher prices if OPEC does not provide oil to the market, regardless of which country is embargoed. Because of both the price disparity between old and new oil and the unequal impact on buyers of crude, additional regulatory programs were introduced such as the Entitlements Program and the Buy-Sell Program in attempt to make the system fair. This decade (1980s) will likely turn out to be the last decade in which the US shored up its macroeconomic and military standing on a worldwide basis but failed to come to grips with crumbling family and community institutions.
