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Shrugging off Commoner's comments, Shultz felt that his opponent's arguments had only confirmed his central point: that the market mechanism will work—if only the Government permits it to. It was, after all, the federal underpricing of natural gas and oil that gave the petrochemical industry its edge over older industries to begin with.
Eastern Air Lines President and Chairman Frank Borman, who commanded the U.S.'s first mission around the moon, exhorted his fellow executives to be even more conservation minded. "I am the only one here," he said, "who had the opportunity of viewing the world from 240,000 miles out in space, and I know how small it looks." As an industry at the mercy of both soaring fuel costs (kerosene, which cost 8¢ to 10¢ per gal. in the late 1960s, may rise to 70¢ in the mid-1980s) and scarce capital for new equipment, the airlines must conserve or face ruin. Under Borman's prodding, Eastern has increased its passengers 10.4% while reducing fuel consumption 7.5%. Among the methods: cutting the number of flights, adding seats, and flying at lower speeds. Improvements in subsonic aircraft and engine design promise even greater savings. The energy crisis makes supersonic development hopelessly uneconomic. The Concorde SST uses five times as much fuel per passenger as the 747.
SAPPING ENERGY. The U.S. has developed a hodgepodge energy system in which various fuels have competed in wasteful price cutting. Industry and Government have behaved as bitter enemies. In a dawning era of scarcity, new partnerships must be formed, both between competitors within the energy industry and between industry and Government. Is it possible? Maybe.
Thornton Bradshaw, president of Atlantic Richfield, directed his barbed wit against the Executive Branch's energy efforts. So far, he said, that branch has accomplished little other than creating needless jobs and promulgating senseless regulations. Said Bradshaw: "There is a basic rule: any regulation must be followed by another regulation that tries to overcome the problems raised by the first."
Unlike the vast majority of his oil-industry colleagues, Bradshaw remains convinced that free enterprise alone cannot cope with the energy crisis. Says he: "The signals provided by the free enterprise system must be supplemented by governmental signals. Government must set the goals as well as the incentives and disincentives." Bradshaw would even accept Government price setting—but only on one product, crude oil, with the condition that the tag should reflect replacement costs.