The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Friday, January 15, 2010 -7 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, January15, 2010 - 7 ALL CHARGED UP The politics of a bailout: Study reveals connections netted banks more money AARON AUGSBURGER/Daly A concept version of the Chevrolet Volt was on display at the Ross School of Business yesterday. University community members got to take a look at the Volt, an electric vehicle with an onboard electric generator and a range of 40 miles on pure battery power. HAITI From Page 1 2005, gives Haitian students a chance to learn and study a typi- cal American nursing curricu- lum and includes training for natural disasters, according to Barnard. "It'sthesamekind of curriculum that you get at any leading school here in the United States like the University of Michigan," she said. Barnard said Haiti's public infrastructure has been in need of reorganization and assistance, especially because of its lack of healthcare for most citizens. There are only 10.7 nurses per 100,000 residents and 30 doctors per 100,000 people in the country, Ber- nard wrote in a statement released by the University. "The hospitals are not well sup- plied because they have no system CANDIDATE From Page 1 the ballot. The 21-year-old Rabhi is by far the youngest candidate for the post, which is responsible for all County services. All the other can- didates range in age from late 30's to early 60's. Rabhi, who will run as a Demo- crat, said his interest in the posi- tion stems from years of political involvement. After his freshman year, Rabhi started getting involved in local political campaigns, including that of family friend and Ann ArborCity Councilmember Steve Kunselman (D-Ward 3), who was elected to city council last November. Rabhi said his work on the campaign centered around student outreach, since Ward 3 has a large University student population. In the weeks leading up to last August's primary, Rabhi went door-to-door through student neighborhoods promoting Kunsel- man's campaign. He also distrib- uted campaign literature and put up yard signs. On the day of the primary elec- tion, Rabbi said he returned to those same neighborhoods and encouraged students to vote. TRANS FATS From Page 1 registered dieticians, food ser- vice directors and marketing F experts to research and plan the logistics of a Health System-wide ban. The movement against partial- ly hydrogenated fats stems from overwhelming evidence that they contribute directly to obesity by increasing bad cholesterol and reducing good cholesterol. According to a University Health System press release, obe- sity now accounts for between COLEMAN From Page 1 tion on the issue, and Athletic Director Bill Martin released a statement affirming the Univer- sity's dedication to following NCAA standards. "We continue to cooperate with the NCAA on this matter, which is why we reached out to both the Big Ten and the NCAA as soon as we heard the allegations," Martin wrote in the statement. "We remain committed to follow- ing both the letter and the intent of the NCAA rules." At the start of the investiga- tion, Coleman released a state- to pay for things and even for a regular patient in a hospital, they have to send their family to the drugstore to buy the IV bag or the needle," Bernard said. Many of those who survived the quake are left without food and water, surrounded by a scene of ruined buildings mixed with dead bodies. The international Red Cross estimated 45,000 to 50,000 dead and recovery teams have resorted to using bulldozers to transport bodies. Brazilian U.N. peacekeep- ers are trying to organize mass burials. Because of the crumbled roads and damaged seaport, internation- al aid to the survivors of the quake has been minimal. According to estimates by the Red Cross, one third of Haiti's nine million people are in need of aid. President Barack Obama announced that the United States would start with $100 million in aid, "one of the largest relief efforts in our recent history." This weekend 2,000 Marines are set to join the 100 paratroopers that landed in Haiti yesterday to pro- vide aid, the U.S. Southern Com- mand reported. Obama appointed former presi- dents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to lead the fundraising effort for relief to the devastated country. Haitian President Rene Pre- val is working from the airport to remain in control of the situation, according to President Leonel Fer- nandez of the neighboringDomin- ican Republic. The National Palace and other government buildings were destroyed in the earthquake, interfering with national leader- ship. -The Associated Press contributed to this report. TARP funds positively correlated with political ties, research'shows By CASSANDRA PAGNI For the Daily In a recent study University researchers found that banks with connections to the federal govern- ment tended to receive more fed- eral bailout money than those that did not. Business Profs. Ran Duchin and Denis Sosyura - the authors of the study that has yet to be published - relied on databases from the Fed- eral Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve to access detailedinformationaboutthebanks that received bailout money. Duchin said the numbers revealed that banks with ties to the government often received more moneynthanthosethat are politicallyindependent. "Our study is able to show that there is a positive correlation between political connections of different types, be it connections to the Federal Reserve, connec- SPANISH From Page 1 Upper-level Spanish classes are particularly popular because many students take Spanish in high school and test into the higher lev- els once they get to the University, Hannoosh wrote. Assistant Spanish Prof. Daniel Noemi, who is teaching a class that had a waitlist of over 20 people as of Tuesday, said another problem is that there aren't enough classes for the large number of Spanish con- centrators. He said this causes many stu- dents to question why the 25-stu- dent class size cannot be increased, but he fears that larger classes would be less productive for stu- dents. "The problem would be that the classes wouldn't be very good," he said. Noemi added that though adding tions to House members, or simply being politically active in terms of spending money on lobbying the treasury or contributing to politi- cal campaigns," and getting more bailout funds, Duchin said. Duchin said the study showed a direct relationship between poli- tics and public policy. "It is a very interesting area of investigation to see how, in general, politics affects public policy, alloca- tion of funds and markets," he said. The researchers looked at about 700 financial institutions, consid- ering individual histories, organi- zational size, demographics and quarterly reports. In particular, they examined the relationship between banks that received aid from the Troubled Asset ReliefPro- gram (TARP), the amount received and their political associations. DuchinsaidheandSosyurafound that the original goal of the TARP - to give monetary aid to financially unsoundbanks-wasviolatedwhen politics became involved. "The fact that political con- nections actually played a role in TARP investments implies that it is not necessarily the (financially unsound) banks that should have gotten the money that actually more professors would be "ideal," it is not possible with the current state of the economy. While the packed waitlists of300- and 400-level Spanish classes on Wolverine Access clearly dominate over the somewhat empty lists of French and other language classes, Noemi said he is content to deal with the current enrollment system. Noemi added that addressing the problem would require a campus- wide change to facilitate all depart- ments with high student demand. "I think that the department does quite a good job," he said. "In terms of in the end, everybody can get into a class." But LSA sophomore Sarah Hal- linen said she disagrees. Hallinen said she was put on the waitlist for Spanish 368 and 410, adding that she has noticed more competition for Spanish classes this semester than in previous semesters. "It is extremely frustrating for the large number of students ended up getting the money," Duch- insaid."There is evidence of a misal- location of funds that is inconsistent with the original TARP goals." These findings, Duchin wrote in a press release, are important because taxpayer dollars are not. being appropriated to "support systematically institutions experi- encing financial distress." Because .information is only made public for banks that actually received TARP money, Duchin said the status and political involve- ment of banks that were denied are unknown and complicate the issue. "We'renotsuggestingthatthereis a causal relation, we're simply docu- mentinga positive relation between a political connection or activism and actually receiving TARP money and the amount being received,"he said. Duchin added that in any case, the findings oppose any idea that the market is free from political influence. "I think that is surprising that given all this scrutiny and given all the exposurethatweare ableusing public data, to actually show such a strong statistically significant rela- tion between political connections and between allocations of TARP investments," he said. attempting to take Spanishclasses," she said. "For some reason over- enrollment does seem like more of a problem this semester." LSA freshman Rachel Emery said she tried to avoid being wait- listed by declaring a Spanish major. She said she hoped to gain access to the class spots reserved for concen- trators, but she still wasn't able to get into some courses. Though other students have had trouble getting into the classes of their choice, LSA Freshman Dana Van Oostenburg said she had a positive experience with her enroll- ment. "I feel pretty luckyto have gotten into my second choice Spanishclass this semester," she said. Hannoosh said that this flexibili- ty is the key to the system, as enroll- ment does work for students willing to cooperate with the department. "We have a dedicated staff who work hard to help students find appropriate courses," she said. "I was like, 'Hey guys, let's go out and vote,' and we all went out and voted," Rabhi said. According to an article pub- lished in the Daily on Aug. 4, Kun- selman won the primary election by six votes. Kunselman said Rablii's efforts helped him secure the primary win. "I feel pretty confident in say- ing that it was the student vote that tipped the scale," Kunselman said. "Yousef gave me a presence in that neighborhood that I had not had in previous races." Acknowledging the close race, Rabhi said, "I walked at least six people to the poles to vote." Now Rabbi is concentrating on his own campaign as he prepares for the primary election on August 3. The Board of Commissioners is in charge of allocating state fund- ing to cities and townships and set- ting budgets for the county. "What the board is responsible for doing is making sure state money gets to the right places," Rabhi said. Rabhi said he's running to help defend services the county provides for disadvantaged citizens- like homeless shelters, mental health care programs, and healthcare packages for the working poor. 9 and 11 percent of total United States health care costs, mak- ing the ban of trans fats a sound choice for protecting the future of the nation's health care econ- omy. Erica Wald, registered dieti- tian with MHealthy Nutri- tion and Weight Management, said the ban will not only make the food healthier, it will also improve the quality of the food. "(Trans fat) has more health implications than other fats, so we are trying to substitute the trans fats for higher quality sub- stitutes," Wald said. "We're try- ing lots of different alternatives ment assuring that the University strongly values the honesty of the Athletic Department and will comply with the procedures of the investigation. "As I said at the onset of this review, we place the highest importance on the well-being of our student-athletes and the integrity of our program," Cole- man wrote in the statement. "We continue to work with the NCAA to ensure that a thorough and objective investigation occurs." Though Coleman released the statement at the start of the inves- tigation, she was largely silent on the issue until last night. At the University Board of Regents November meeting Cole- "People who are homeless in the streets, don't have healthcare, are mentally ill - these people need to be taken care of," Rabhi said. He added that, if elected, he'll search for ways to retain those ser- vice in the midst of"hard economic times." As Rabhi prepares his cam- paign, he's relying on the same demographic that Councilmember Kunselman to victory - University students. "I need students to vote," Rabhi said. The lth district encompasses a large part of the University com- munity, including East Quad, West Quad and South Quad, and the stu- dent-heavy neighborhood on Oak- land Avenue. Rabbi said he plans to reach out to those students and explain how the county's decisions impact them. Though most students won't be here for the August primary, Rabbi said he plans to encourage them to vote absentee and wants to serve as a voice for students on the Board. If elected, he plans to hold regular office hours at cof- fee shops like Cafe Ambrosia or Espresso Royale. "If I'm elected, I'm going to count on students to be constantly involved," Rabbi said. such as prune puree." In addition to finding trans fat substitutes, one of the big- gest challenges this initiative has faced - both in Michigan and around the nation - is find- ing food vendors who will com- ply with these regulations. Since so many of the ingredients and other food products are out- sourced, the Health System has to insure that those companies also abide by the new regulation, said Luck. "It made our process more grueling," Luck said. "A lot of companies are thinking about it, and just haven't done it." man did not make herself available for comment after the meeting, something she normally does. At the same meeting, Regent Andrew Richner (R-Grosse Pointe Park) read a statement saying the Regents would not comment on the matter. The NCAA Committee on Infractions would be responsible for reviewing the NCAA's find- ings if it discovers any major vio- lations by the Michigan football team. 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(Why do make you quickly feel quite territorial! that?) LEO PISCES (July 23 to Aug. 22) (Feb. 191to March 20) Relutions with partners and close Bebpatient with co-workers today. friends are mildly explosive today. This There's no need to prove that you are occurs only for a short window of time, right about something. Just let things go. but when it does, it's a doozy! You'll be happier if you keep the peace. VIRGO YOU BORN TODAY In whatever you gAug. 23 to Sept. 22) do, you're unusually hardworking and Parents must be patient with children thorough. Essentially, you strive for that today. People playing sports must guard ultimate sense of accomplishment. You against accidents. Today's a bit of a crap- want to be fulfilled in whatever task you shoot. undertake. Nevertheless, you constantly LIBRA rise to new challenges and seek more (Sept. 23 to Oct. 22) excitement and thrills. 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