The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, October 15, 2008 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, October15, 2008 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
BUE BELL, Pennsylvania
McCain suggests
cutting taxes in
$52.5 billion plan
Republican presidential can-
didate John McCain yesterday
proposed a $52.5 billion economic
plan that would eliminate taxes
on unemployment benefits and cut
the capital gains tax while warn-
ingvoters about takingachance on
Democratic rival Barack Obama.
"Perhaps never before in history
have the American people been
asked to risk so much based on so
little," McCain said of his opponent
during a speech at a community col-
lege in this Philadelphia suburb.
McCain also promised that
as president he would order the
Treasury Department to guar-
antee 100 percent of all savings
for six months. Such a guarantee,
above the $250,000 now in force,
would ease consumer fears of
bank failures and restore "ratio-
nal judgment to che choices of the
market," he said.
McCain said President Bush's
$250 billion- plan to buy shares
in the nation's leading banks -
advance word of which helped
stocks soar on Monday - should
be short-term and last only until
the institutions are reformed and
put on a sound footing again.
DETROIT
UAW President
opposes GM,
Chrysler merger
United Auto Workers President
Ron Gettelfinger said yesterday
he would oppose a merger be-
tween General Motors Corp. and
Chrysler LLC because it would
cost workers their jobs.
The union president said the
UAW has not had formal discussions
with either automaker about the two
companies combining, but he would
be against any consolidation.
"I personally would not want to
see anything that would result in
a consolidation. That would mean
the elimination of additional jobs,"
Gettelfinger said on a political We-
bcast run by WWJ-AM in Detroit.
GM and Chrysler's owner, Cer-
berus Capital Management LP,
have discussed a merger or acqui-
sition of Chrysler by GM. The talks
have been shelved during the fi-
nancial crisis but could be revived.
LOS ANGELES
California fires
fueled by wind
Ferocious desert winds pushed
one of three major wildfires burn-
ing across Southern California to
nearly double its size overnight,
firefighters said yesterday, the
third day of the blazes that have
destroyed dozens of homes ,and
forced thousands to flee.
One person was killed by the
flames; another died in acar crash
as a blaze neared the freeway.
The fires have charred more
than 25 square miles in suburban
Los Angeles and northern San Di-
ego County, with the fiercest blaz-
es burning in the San Fernando
Valley, about 30 miles northwest
of Los Angeles.
The whipping winds caused a
fire in the west end of the San Fer-
nando Valley, in the Porter Ranch
area, to double in size from 5,000
to nearly 10,000 acres overnight,
fire officials said.
DETROIT
Cops sue city over
pregnancy policy
Five police officers are suing the
city, saying they were forced to go
on sick leave when their bosses
learned they were pregnant, even
if they could perform other duties.
The officers, represented by the
American Civil Liberties Union,
said.they're taking aim at a 2004
policy that prevents them from
working unless a doctor finds they
can crawl in confined spaces, jump
from an elevated surface and forc-
ibly make arrests.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
U,,, DE AT HS
4,183
Number of American service
members who have died in the
war in Iraq, according to The
Associated Press. There were no
deaths identified yesterday.
U.S. gov't buys
stakes in banks
Bush reluctantly
backs plan to boost
credit market
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The
government put itself four-
square into the country's bank-
ing business yesterday, resorting
to what President Bush conced-
ed was the unwelcome choice of
buying into the system to loosen
paralyzed channels of credit.
The president said the deci-
sion to buy shares in the nation's
leading banks - a kind of fed-
eral intervention not seen since
the Depression era - was "not
intended to take over the free
market but to preserve it."
But the administration was
clearly conflicted by the action.
Said Treasury Secretary
Henry Paulson: "We regret
having to take these actions.
Today's actions are not what we
ever wanted to do - but today's
actions are what we must do to
restore confidence to our finan-
cial system."
At a news conference last
month, Bush defended his
administration's increasingly
aggressive market interventions
to deal with the biggest upheav-
als on Wall Street in seven
decades.
"I'm sure there are some of
my friends out there saying, I
thought this guy was a market
guy; what happened to him?,"
he said. "Well, my first instinct
wasn't to lay out a huge govern-
ment plan. My first instinct was
to let the market work until I
realized, upon being briefed by
the experts, of how significant
this problem became."
Said Paulson: "Government
owning a stake in any private
U.S. company is objectionable to
most Americans - me included.
Yet the alternative of leaving
businesses and consumers with-
out access to financing is totally
unacceptable."
Nine major banks will partici-
pate initially, including all of the
country's largest institutions.
ASSAULT
From Page 1A
edge of the situation said the
perpetrator is suspected to be
LSA senior Mike Milano, a red-
shirt junior on the Michigan
football team. Milano, 22, is
listed as a 5-foot-7, 196-pound
running back from Rocky River,
Ohio on the Athletic Depart-
ment's website. A former wres-
tler who wrestled for Michigan
his first two years on campus,
Milano walked onto the football
team in spring 2007.
According to the witness,
Kampfer and an unidentified
friend were walking southward
on Church Street when three
unknown males caught up to
them just past the intersection
with Willard Street.
The man walking with Kamp-
fer turned around as the group
approached and said something
the witness could not hear.
The witness said two of the
men walked past Kampfer and
his friend, shoving them aside,
and then the third picked up
Kampfer and slammed him into
the sidewalk. Kampfer's friend
yelled at the group, but the men
continued walking south on
Church Street, the witness said.
He said Kampfer wasn't mov-
ing and appeared to be uncon-
scious after the attack.
NCAA
From Page 1A
tees to announce where teams
will be playing sooner. Officials
also asked selection committees
to avoid choosing tournament
sites that would be more dense-
ly populated at the time, such as
well-known spring break desti-
nations.
The NCAA considered other
cost-cutting policies last month,
but action was deferred until its
member schools could weigh
DEBATE
From Page 1A'
in the city because he would like
to shrink the city's authority
over development in Ann Arbor.
Another question centered
on the University's decision to
build aparkingstructure on Wall
Street, across the Huron River
from the University Hospital.
The first bank to take advan-
tage of the new program was
Bank of New York Mellon which
announced Tuesday that it
would sell $3 billion in preferred
shares to the Treasury.
Some of the nation's largest
banks had to be pressured by
to participate by Paulson, who
wanted healthy institutions
that did not necessarily need
capital from the government
to go first as a way of remov-
ing any stigma that might be
associated with banks getting
bailouts.
It was the latest in a long
series of moves taken by the
administration and the Federal
Reserve over the past several
weeks to prop up a weakening
financial industry. The economic
picture in the United States had
been darkening for months, but
the slump took on new urgency
- and had greater global reper-
cussions - amid record-setting
selloffs on Wall Street and
enactment of a $700 billion bail-
out bill.
Under the new multifaceted
stabilization program, the gov-
ernment will initially buy stocks
in major banks. When financial
markets stabilize and recover,
the banks are expected to buy
the stock back from the govern-
ment, Bush said in brief remarks
from the White House Rose Gar-
den.
"These efforts are designed
to directly benefit the Ameri-
can people by stabilizing the
financial system and helping the
economy recover," the president
said.
The Federal Reserve, mean-
while, announced Oct. 27 as the
startup date for a program it
announced last week to buy vast
amounts of short-term debt in
an effort to get the commercial
paper market functioning more
normally.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernan-
ke welcomed all the new steps
and made clear that policy-
makers would continue to take
actions as needed to battle the
crisis.
The witness described the
person who hit Kampfer as a
short, athletically built blonde
male. He said the attacker was
accompanied by two other men
with athletic builds and blonde
hair. All three were wearing
jeans and black shirts that read
"Get Wet" in red or orange on
the back, according to the eye-
witness.
Police found Kampfer on the
ground outside East Quad after
responding to a call from an
emergency phone, Neumann
said. A fire truck was already on
the scene when police arrived.
Police wouldn't describe the
injuries sustained. Michigan
hockey coach Red Berenson
said Kampfer will be out of the
team's lineup for "a while" and
is currently missing class to
recover from the injuries.
Berenson said Kampfer, a
fourth-round NHL draft pick of
the Anaheim Ducks, would not
be suspended after returning to
the team.
"I can't tell you that he did
anything bad,". Berenson said.
"He just was a victim."
The Athletic Department has
not yet released a statement on
the incident.
Milano declined to comment
on the incident.
Managing Sports Editor Nate
Sandals contributed to this report.
in. These changes ranged from
a moratorium on tournament-
field expansion through the
2012-13 season to discouraging,
but not prohibiting, the selec-
tion of championship sites in
high-cost or remote locations.
Changes implemented by
the NCAA for the fall season
will take immediate effect. The
NCAA will evaluate how effec-
tive the changes were and then
decide whether to use the same
guidelines for winter and spring
championships.
Plourde said he wouldn't try
to influence the University's
decisions.
Hieftje, who urged the Uni-
versity to reconsider the proj-
ect during a University Board
of Regents meeting last month,
said the city doesn't have juris-
diction over University deci-
sions, but said he would make
efforts to discuss city concerns
with the regents.
Economics Prof. Charles Ballard, of Michigan State (third from right), speaks yesterday in Rackham Auditorium at the "Elec
'08's Impact on Michigan" event. It featured Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer and former Republican State Co
gressman and Joe Schwarz, who argued on behalf of presidential nominees Barack Ob..'a and John McCain, respectively.
P lticoS, profs: President will
grapple with economy, energy
By MATT AARONSON
Daily StaffReporter
A group of politicians and profes-
sors took the stage last night at the
RackhamAmphitheatre as panelists
for a town hall-style forum called
"Election '08's Impact on Michi-
gan: The candidates' positions on
energy, the environment, and the
economy."
During the debate, which was
moderated by Jack Lessenberry,
Michigan Radio's senior political
analyst, the surrogates for both can-
didates gave frank answers about
the difficulties the next president
will face.'
State Democratic Party chair
Mark Brewer stood in for Obama,
and former U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz
(R-Battle Creek) for McCain.
The three experts on the panel
were Michigan State University
Economics Prof. Charles L. Ballard
for economic issues, Michigan Law
and Natural Resources and Environ-
ment Prof. Ted Parson for environ-
mental issues and Michigan Public
Policy, Mathematics and Economics
Prof. Carl Simon for energy.
There were two points that all five
panelists generally agreed upon.
First, that the issues of energy,
the environment and the economy
are indissolubly connected.
Second, that with these issues'
sense of urgency weighing heavily
on the minds of voters, both candi-
dates have been forced to paint an
unrealistic picture of what changes
can be made in the next four years.
When Simon asked the surro-
gates a question about reducing
dependence on imported oil, Brew-
er said Obama's goal was for renew-
able sources to provide 25 percent of
our energy "within the next couple
decades," while Schwarz said that
Senator McCain believes that the
figure should probably be closer to
10 percent.
Simon said neither candidate has
laid out a clear plan to get there.
"I'm hearing mostly numbers,
even from our dear Governor (Jen-
nifer Granholm), about how much
renewable energy is ourtarget."
Simon referenced the two cam-
paigns' rhetoric about biofuels,
specifically, corn-based ethanol,
ARCHER
From Page 1A
experience of trying to pass the
bar exam.
"It's what you put into it that
you get out. Trust me, if I can pass
it, anyone can pass the bar," he
said jokingly.
Though his talk centered on
preparing for the legal profession,
Archer touched on a broad range
ofissues toward the end of the ses-
sion. His prose took a more seri-
ous turn when he spoke about his
youth in the small town of Cassop-
olis, Mich., near the Indiana bor-
der, where he grew up in poverty.
Archer said that upbringing
helped shape his passion for the
law and civil rights.
He acknowledged that things
are different for this generation's
children, but that he felt there
were still numerous deficiencies in
the Detroit public school system.
Archer also spoke out against how
the controversial "No Child Left
Behind" Act has been funded.
BULA president Ryan Nor-
man, an LSA senior, said he
appreciated the "insider knowl-
edge" Archer imparted during
his talk.
"He gave a lot of useful infor-
mation," said Norman, who invit-
ed Archer to speak. "He was very
knowledgeable about how to be
successful."
Archer, who was scheduled to
speak for two hours, left the event
after an hour to participate in a
conference call with the Obama
campaign.
and said the technology has "draw-
backs" that make it less viable as a
long-term solution, including "its
impact on world food supply and
prices" and "the fact that it takes
almost as much petroleum to make
biofuel as it replaces."
Simon said that on energy issues,
both candidates' positions have
"sort of a scattershot feel."
"It's too important a problem not
to be thought of in a very systematic
and convincing way," he said.
Parson called climate change
"the urgent environmental issue
that is like a train wreck happening
in slow motion, that just nobody's
got a handle on right now."
He said McCain was "an early
leader" on the issue, but both can-
didates understand its importance.
He said he "can't say the same for
Governor Palin, who's made a cou-
ple of very disturbing statements
about not believing the basic scien-
tific underpinning of it."
After climate change, both surro-
gates cited water policy as the sec-
ond most pressing issue. Both were
also vague about solutions.
Schwarz said McCain "has a
holistic approach about the envi-
ronment in this country, one block
fitting into another."
When asked how McCain would
address the problem of diminish-
ing water supplies in parts of the
country with growing populations,
Schwarz replied "Idon't believe that
I could tell you, and quite frankly, I
don't think he knows either until he
is elected, and until some of these
things are studied and worked out."
"Thefirstpart-globalwarming-
he's got it," Schwarz continued. "He
has nailed that one. He's conversant
and intelligent about that. The rest,
what is a comprehensive plan for
the environmentgoing to be?I don't
know."
Brewer said that "we are very
fortunate here in Michigan to have
somebody from Illinois running..He
understands the issues that we have
particularly here with the Great
Lakes.
Brewer cited Obama's record in
the Senate and Illinois Senate as evi-
dence Obama has been active on the
issue of pollution in the Great Lakes.
"He would go well beyond where
we've seen President Bush go,"
Brewer said.
He said rather than just making
legislation, there needsto be funding
and action in order to "clean up and
restore the Great Lakes."
Ballard was asked how we would
finance all of these suggested ideas
to help with climate change and
alternative energy.
He said that an important part of
the next president's role will be to
use his leadership to encourage more
savingandresponsible spending.
"We have been on a national con-
sumption spending binge. That's one
of the biggest stories of the last forty
years," he said. "Our federal govern-
ment saves less than nothing by run-
ning large deficits, and our private
citizens save very little."
Ballard said that leaves two pos-
sibilities: an investment collapse, or
foreignfinancing.
"But I think that there are lim-
its to how long the Chinese and the
Japanese and the Germans and the
Koreans are going to finance our
consumption spending binge," he
added.
The biggest recent source of
debate regarding governmentspend-
ing is the $700 billion bailout of the
financial system that Congress
passed earlier this month.
When asked about the feasibil-
ity of their candidates' promised tax
cuts,the surrogates made itclearthat
other priorities may come first.
"I think he knows what the fiscal
shape of the country is," Schwarz
said of McCain. "And he knows that
tax cuts are not the first item on peo-
ples' agenda."
Schwarz suggested that it would
be difficult to pass tax cuts with a
Democratic Congress anyway.
Brewer said Obama intends to let
the Bush tax cuts expire since they
are "unfairly weighted toward the
wealthy in this country."
"We're clearly going to have to
prioritize all of these issues that are
in front of us," he said. Brewer added
that Obama's first priority is the
economy, followed by healthcare.
Brewer said that certain issues
probably wouldn't be addressed
until later. Fixing Social Security,
for example, "will receive fuller
attention late in the first term."
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