Mr. Kahn is that rare bird, a regulator who wants his regulatory agency to go out

of business (which it eventually did, though not on his watch--cf. Firing Line #S631). He is another breed of rare bird as well: a public servant who speaks plain, and pungent, English. A spirited conversation exploring what is the minimal sort of regulation that is needed in the air lanes, why the government shouldn't be granting monopoly routes, and how competition really can work in the airline industry. HK: "In any case, American Airlines, which was one of the leading objectors to deregulation, has now gone all the way over to the other extreme." WFB: "With cut fares and cut rates." HK: "Oh yes. They just say, 'Get out of our way.' I wish I could say that I had been farsighted enough to have planned it so, but there is a general view now among many airline executives that if the CAB is going to be of so little use to us by way of protecting us, then let's get them out of the way. That is a simply delightful development."