National Cable Television Association Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session by Satellite to the Annual Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada.

THE PRESIDENT. Thank you, Bob. It's a real pleasure to join your meeting in Las Vegas this morning. In fact, I regret not being able to enjoy the city with you, especially as I'm sure that some of you who are riding a better streak at the casinos than I am in the Congress. There are consolations for you, of course. For one thing, the odds are obviously better where you are than they are with me in the Congress. For another, I can be sure that for every one of you who loses, I may gain a bigger supporter for my proposed improvements in the welfare system.

NATIONAL GOALS

However, even though I'm not able to take the day off to relax with you there, we have more serious risks to face together. Thanks to our cable and satellite technology, I'm able to meet with you here in the Map Room of the White House.

Best of all, I can do more than just speak to you. We can have a discussion together, something that cable television can help make possible more often in the future throughout America, because our democracy is based on the premise that no matter how controversial and complex an issue may be, in the long run public discussion and debate will lead us to better decisions. That is what the founders of this Nation believed themselves 200 years ago. That's exactly how they hammered out the United States Constitution. They got together and they argued until they agreed.

Their example was never more important. Today we are at the same time a prosperous, democratic nation at peace and a divided nation confronting the serious and complicated problems of energy, inflation, and even the possible threat of nuclear war.

Your commitment and your help in making the discussion of these issues both wider and better focused is extremely important. As the technology relating to problems—all the way from oil production to the monitoring of nuclear missiles-becomes so difficult, yours is the kind of communicating technology that our Nation's founders would have welcomed to help us conduct important nationwide debates.

Cable television can help Americans understand that individual proposals such as the windfall profits tax, the wage and price standards, and even the SALT II treaty, are not final solutions to all our national problems, nor are they political spectator sports, nor are they points to be scored in some kind of game of playing the public opinion polls. But they are steps in the continuing search for common ground in our democracy's attempt to deal with the horrors that could come with war or depression or a lack of fuel before these crippling events can occur.

For example, we have an energy crisis in our country, a real energy crisis. Yet too few of our people and even fewer of our politicians are willing to face that reality. I proposed a windfall profits tax now on domestic oil production. It's designed not only to keep oil companies from pocketing billions of dollars in unearned, excess profits but also to begin to work on new scientific and technological solutions that can do for energy what satellites and cable are already doing for communications.

Inflation is even more difficult, because, unlike oil, we can't see it, we can't store it, we can only feel it as it robs all of us-business, people who work in factories, the elderly, the public. Who then is to blame if we are all victims? Discussion, as we're having this morning, can help us to realize that as each panicked sector tries to shove past another, tries to grab an advantage that's selfish; it's all of us who are robbing ourselves. This has to stop. We have to agree to stop it together.

Above all, I want the American people to discuss the strategic arms limitation treaty that I intend to sign in Vienna, Austria, next month, because it's essential to our responsibility as a force for peace in a nuclear age; because it will make our world safer and our country more secure; because I deeply believe it's the most vital step that we can take to preserve that most fundamental human right, the right that comes first in the Declaration of Independence, the right to live.

I'm not here this morning just to sell SALT or to sell wage and price standards or to sell a windfall profits tax. I'm here to open the discussion with you and among you to get you involved in the free exchange of ideas. That's the only way we can shape real solutions instead of just empty slogans for our complex problems.

And now I'll be glad to take your questions.

QUESTIONS

STRATEGIC ARMS LIMITATION

MR. SCHMIDT. Thank you, Mr. President. We have some cable operators here who would like to ask you a few questions. The first questioner is Bill Daniels of Denver, Colorado.

Q. Mr. President, I believe most Americans share with you a desire to end the threat of strategic weapons. My question is, however, how can we know with sufficient certainty that the Soviet Union is living up to its end of the bargain, especially after the loss of Iran as a listening post?

THE PRESIDENT. Well, in the first place, we've got 20 years' experience with the most advanced national technical means to discern accurately what the Soviets are doing in the design, the testing, the production, and the deployment of nuclear weapons that are controlled under the SALT II agreements. This is a multifaceted capability, depending on all kinds of intelligence, both technical electronics intelligence on the one hand and other forms as well.

We are very secure in our belief that we do have adequate technical means to confirm the SALT agreement, not based on mutual trust, but based on our own ability, with or without the Iran monitoring stations. They were important. We'd like to have them back, or an adequate replacement for them, but they're just one element in an all-inclusive, complex, adequate means by which we can assure compliance with SALT.

For instance, if the Soviets should decide to endanger the entire SALT process, to eliminate the advantages to them of the peaceful prospects to both nations brought about by detente and at the same time to endanger their own reputation in keeping the SALT process going and to go back to the cold war by trying to develop secretly a new missile, for instance, that's forbidden by SALT; not only would they have to go through the whole process of building it and getting a prototype model, but they would have to had at least 20 different test flights of that missile before it could possibly be placed into production and then deployed. It's inconceivable that they could go through this entire process without that process being detected. So, we are not relying upon the honesty of the Soviets or trust in them, nor are they relying on us for that same assurance. We're relying on our own ability to monitor the Soviets' compliance, and I am convinced, the technicians are convinced, the Joint Chiefs of Staff are convinced, the Department of Defense is convinced that we do have adequate means to assure compliance by the Soviets with the SALT treaty that is proposed, as it has 'been for the last 15 to 20 years with previous agreements.

Q. Thank you, Mr. President.

INFLATION

MR. SCHMIDT. We have another question here, Mr. President. May I introduce Frank Scarpa of Vineland, New Jersey.

Q. Mr. President, it seems as if the old expression that the only thing certain in life is death and taxes needs to be expanded to add that inflation is another certainty. We've seen economic controls and guidelines come and go, and still inflation is at our throats. People point the finger of blame at Government spending, and the Government points a finger at private sector price increases. Sir, how do we stop blaming the other guy and stop this inflationary spiral?

THE PRESIDENT. Frank, one of the worst things that we can do is to look for a scapegoat or start blaming one another for a problem that's been with us for more than 10 years. The average inflation rate, as a matter of fact, before I became President, the last 3 years before I became President, was a little more than 8 percent. It's something that's been with us for a long time.

There are no trick answers. There are no easy answers. Inflation is a growing problem not only for ourselves but for our very stable, very strong, economically prosperous allies throughout the Western world. The best thing to do is to stick with the programs that we have initiated in the last 2 1/2 years.

Let me give you a few quick examples. One is we are eliminating excess paperwork and redtape and regulation from Government. We've cut down the paperwork burden already by 15 percent. We're still working on it. We're trying to deregulate industries to let them be more intensely competitive.

Most of you flew to Las Vegas, and I 'think anyone who's been a constant air passenger, for instance, the last few years, will see the extreme advantages of the deregulation of the airline industry. We have saved air passengers about $2 1/2 billion already by lowering prices, because there's more intense competition now in domestic and foreign flights.

I inherited, when I ran for President, for instance, a deficit in 1976 of $66 billion in the Federal budget. I have set as one of my major goals to work toward a balanced Federal budget. We will, this coming year, in the budget that Congress is presently considering, slash that deficit between 55 and 60 percent already. And we can have good momentum and a good support now from the American people to balance the budget actually.

In addition to that, we have established voluntary wage and price guidelines or standards. We are monitoring those compliance data very closely. We supervise with the greatest of attention the prices set, for instance, by the Fortune 500, the very largest corporations, and by an increasing number of middle-sized or even smaller corporations. There's been remarkably good compliance. Almost all of the labor settlements the last year have been within our 7-percent guidelines, a few exceptions, but almost all of them have complied although this is a voluntary program. We've just got to stick to them.

I have tried the best I could to increase exports, a major cause in the past of very serious inflationary pressures. We are setting records every year. For instance, in agricultural exports, we set one in '77, another record last year. This year we'll have $27 1/2 billion in exports, a new record this year in cutting down our trade deficit.

Eight or nine months ago, if you remember, the headlines almost every day were about the value of the American dollar going down in international monetary trade. We have stabilized the American dollar, beginning last November. And now some of our allies who were complaining in the past about it being too weak, like Germany and Japan, are now complaining that the dollar is too strong.

There are no magic answers. We're going to be faced with inflationary pressures for a long time. But the best thing that we can do is to stick to these programs that have begun and that are proven to be effective, to recognize that every American must contribute. It's not something that just business or just labor or just government can resolve. All of us are going to have to do our best, cut down waste and cooperate.

I don't want to paint an overly rosy picture. For the next 2 or 3 months, we are going to have some serious adverse data coming forward about the inflationary trends. Food looks a little better. I think the general economy is slowing down somewhat. It's going to get better in the near future, but we cannot abandon a permanent commitment to control inflation because we have a temporary disappointment for a few months after it was initiated. We're making good progress; we've got a lot more to go. Everybody's got to work together.

Q. Thank you, Mr. President.

ENERGY

MR. SCHMIDT. With the final question, Mr. President, is our newly elected chairman of the National Cable Television Association, Doug Dittrick, from Ridgewood, New Jersey.

Q. Mr. President, as you know, we are meeting in Las Vegas, an area particularly hard hit by the spreading shortage of gasoline that is now spreading throughout the country. Many of the attendees at our convention are now experiencing difficulty of easily and quickly being able to obtain gasoline. Why has this happened to us so suddenly? And what can we do as consumers, the oil companies, or government to help alleviate this problem?

THE PRESIDENT. Doug, it hasn't happened to us suddenly. I remember in 1973, 1974, when I was a Governor, we were faced with the same problem. And nothing was done. Our Nation didn't even attempt to develop a comprehensive energy policy to cut down on waste; to initiate conservation; to shift away from a heavy dependence on imported oil from the OPEC countries; to build up the use of American supplies of energy, particularly coal; and to shift toward new supplies of energy, like solar and other sources that would be more permanent.

Over 2 years ago, if you remember, after I'd only been in office for 90 days, we submitted to the Congress in April of 1977 a comprehensive energy proposal. This was a difficult issue for Congress to address, because we're not only the major consumers and the major wasters of oil in the whole world, we're also one of the major producers of oil in the whole world. It's a very narrowly divided issue in the Congress and among the public. Although Congress did pass about 60 or 65 percent of the energy proposals that I put forward, the Congress did not pass a single act that dealt with oil.

More recently, as the shortages have become more apparent, as the OPEC prices have continued to go up, I have gone back to the Congress and said, "Would you please give me the authority to restrain purchases of gasoline, for instance, on certain days of the week, if the Governors in the individual States cannot handle it?" The Congress refused to give me this authority. I even asked for the right to restrain unnecessary lighting in buildings and billboards advertising. The Congress refused to give me this authority.

More recently, I asked the Congress to give me the authority to develop a standby gas rationing plan that would only be implemented in case we have a severe shortage, which I hope we won't have. And it could only be implemented if the Congress and the President both agreed, at that time in the future, that it ought to be implemented. Again, because of excessive timidity, the Congress refused to act.

The main problem is not just with the Congress. The American people have absolutely refused to accept a simple fact: We have an energy crisis. We have shortages of oil. The shortages are going to get worse in the future. We're going to have less oil to burn, and we're going to have to pay more for it.

Now, that is not a politically popular thing to say, but it's an actual fact. And the problem is that I'm afraid the American people are not going to be convinced and, therefore, convince the Congress to take action—and we can deal with this problem if we act together—unless there is such a severe crisis with shortages that the American people are shocked enough to finally say, "We have had enough, let's act courageously; let's start conserving; let's start taxing the oil companies with a windfall profits tax; let's put that money into an energy security fund to emphasize conservation, to develop solar power, to increase the production of coal, to have more research and development, and to deal with the energy crisis."

We can solve it, but I cannot solve it by myself. And I'm not trying to put the blame on other people. But until all of you there, representing the television cable industry, and other leaders in our country can convince the viewers and the listeners of our Nation that we really have an energy problem and they're going to have to induce Congress to act, until that happens, we're going to continue to have these shortages.

The last thing I want to say is this: We're doing the best we can to allot a reduced supply of oil in a fair and equitable way. We have got to build up reserve supplies of oil for the New England area, because 80 percent of the homes in New England are heated by oil. Over 80 percent of the oil they use up there is imported.

We've got to have enough diesel oil to meet the planting season and the cultivating season and the harvest season to produce food for us. The same thing goes for fishermen. They've got to produce fish for us to eat.

We have to have emergency supplies for defense needs—we are being very careful about that—and also for hospital, ambulances and police and fire trucks. That means that when we do have a reduced supply of, say, 5 percent, and those mandatory American users get their full allotment because all of us would suffer if they didn't, it means that we have a lower percentage of gasoline to go to the average consumer going to and from work or going to and from a shopping trip.

When you go out on the streets either in Las Vegas or wherever you might have as a home, count the number of cars going to and from work that only have one person in them. Look at the trains going by that are almost empty, look at the rapid transit systems going by with buses almost empty, ask how many people eliminate completely unnecessary trips to the local supermarkets. And you'll see that so far, the American people have not faced a sheer fact that we have an energy shortage that is going to get worse in the future unless we act together.

In inflation and in energy, there's a tendency on the part of us to escape responsibility for taking our own actions by looking for someone else to blame for the problem.

I think your questions have been superb. I think they've emphasized three major challenges that I face—peace, the control of nuclear weapons, energy, and inflation. And there's no way that I can solve these problems as your elected President unless the American people are aroused enough and patriotic enough and unselfish enough to work together to solve them. Government can't do it. It has got to be done with the initiative coming and the support coming from the people of this country. Thank you very much.

Q. Thank you, Mr. President.

MR. SCHMIDT. Mr. President, is there anything you'd like to say in closing?

THE PRESIDENT. Bob, I would like to say how much I appreciate this opportunity. And, as you pointed out, it's the first, so far as I know, in the history of our Nation whereby an opportunity is granted for a President to talk to a large and important group in our American societal structure and to have the response given back, both with applause and questions, where a President can learn at the same time with the full video coverage. And I hope that the listeners here will appreciate the technological advances that have been made in the cable television industry and also will see this as a means by which the American people can influence government, both the Congress and the President, to do an even better job. That's what we want to do, and with your help, I'm sure we can do that and make our great Nation an even greater Nation in the future.

Thank you very much.