I guess the last straw, to me, comes from the GM chairman's statement that we are wasting our stockholders' money in filing suit because we, quote, "Don't have the slightest idea what it's all about." Them is fighting words, right? Well, that is our purpose in going to court and in appearing here today. We are trying to find out what it is all about. We are trying to fill in some of the blanks in this book that the FTC released. Look at it. It looks like a censor in the Kremlin was at it. I took the interesting passages. One subject chapter, coordinating pricing, it starts off, "Particular incidents of information-sharing are illustrative of this problem," and I know the FTC rules, that they are not compelled. I am not trying to change the rules, but I am seeking to find how do you get at what is being said. "This problem is very worrisome." Then they started blacking out, and they blacked out and left one line, "Of greater concern, though, would be conversations between GM and Toyota concerning retail pricing," and they left the word "continuing" on. I am a master at reading between the lines, but this is ridiculous. I do not know how poor Calvani who came on and made the swing vote could read the 1,300 pages a day. He must be one quick study. Let me close by stating, once again and in plain English, that we have to know what the rules are. We have to ask what our alternatives are if the whole GM strategy-of which Fremont is an inte gral part-prevails. We do not have many. One would be to get out of the small car business completely and try to build nothing but gas-guzzlers and trucks. A second would be to follow the lead and ship the small car business overseas. A third would be to take the small car R&D money and investment and tooling money and go out and buy a bank. I am not being facetious. Any of these alternatives which contradict the purposes of the Loan Guarantee Act, which this Congress, led by this House of Representatives, led by many of you as members of this committee, passed in 1979. You challenged me to go out and build a fuel-efficient fleet and to save 600,000 jobs. With a lot of help, we did it. Now, we are about to embark on moving a lot of those jobs and a lot of those fuel-efficient cars outside the country. I do not think that is what all of you had in mind. I do not want to oversimplify, but you see that is the core. If GM is allowed its way, a lot of us have some hard decisions to make, and these decisions can have a major impact on investment and jobs in this country. If that happens, America will be the loser. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [The charts and statement of Mr. Goodyear follow:] |