Pumpkin Soup
Giovanni offer the best in Tuscan dining
Entertainment B1
E
IC
PR
DiCaprio & Crowe shine in spy thriller
¢
25
RY
TO
UC
OD
TR
IN
Body of Lies
Dining Out B5
FRANÇOIS DUHAMEL/ WARNER BROS. PICTURES
TheEpoch Times
NADIA GHATTAS/THE EPOCH TIMES
w w w. t h e E p o c h T i m e s . c o m
Friday, October 10, 2008
Published Mon - Fri
25¢
Australia
Checks
Kraft Amid
Dairy
Scandal
Markets
Slammed
as Investors
Head for
the Exits
By ANTONIO PEREZ
(SRFK7LPHV6WDൠ
NEW YORK—A day after
the SEC’s short selling ban on
financial services firms expired,
bears and short sellers were out in
full force as global economic fears
punished U.S. markets for the seventh straight trading day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded at a decline of around
300 points in the late afternoon,
until a last minute sell off sent the
index down more than 675 points
to its lowest point in five years.
The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000,
a measure of overall market value,
indicates that U.S. stock markets
have lost $8.4 trillion in wealth
since its all-time high last year.
Morgan Stanley shares plunged
as much as 26 percent in Thursday
trading as investors fretted about
its pending deal with Japan’s
Mitsubishi UFJ. Two weeks ago,
Mitsubishi invested $8 in the U.S.
investment bank. Morgan Stanley
issued a statement on Thursday
affirming the status of the deal,
which is set to close on Tuesday.
HEADING SOUTH: A Times Square news ticker reads “Dow Plunges” Oct. 9 in New York City. The Dow Jones industrials lost 678 points to
FORVHEHORZWRGD\DVWKHൣQDQFLDOFULVLVGHHSHQVPHOTOS BY MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGES
Morgan Stanley shares closed
at $12.45, down nearly 26 percent.
Insurer AIG also ended down 25
percent, after the Federal Reserve
promised another $38 billion in
short term funding to stave off an
emergency cash shortfall.
General Motors shares plunged
31 percent after Standard & Poor’s
said that it was reviewing GM and
its finance arms GMAC LLC
for potential credit rating down-
grades. GM—a bellwether of the
U.S. manufacturing industry—
closed the day at $4.76, its lowest
level since 1950.
Other notable decliners include
private equity firm Blackstone
Group LP, which ended down 31
percent, and hedge fund manager
Fortress Investment Group, which
closed at 34 percent lower.
The Dow lost 678.91 points, or
7.3 percent on the day. The S&P
500 slide 7.6 percent, while the
technology heavy index Nasdaq
Composite ended the trading day
down 5.47 percent.
To combat a frozen credit market, the U.S. Fed on Thursday
discussed taking ownership stakes
in U.S. banks. Analysts believe
many banks may be forced to take
the offer if the proposal comes to
fruition.
However, investors seemed to
Candidates Go Head to Head Without Seeing Eye to Eye
The politics of economics
By JARED PEARMAN
(SRFK7LPHV6WDൠ
With the Dow Jones industrial average
at its lowest since 2003 and job loss on the
rise across the nation, people are turning to
the presidential candidates to see what their
plans are to fix the economic crisis.
Sen. John McCain this week released his
Homeownership Resurgence Plan, in which
he proposes that the Treasury Department
The polls have been shifting in favor Obama
this week, with those polled most often citing
the economy as their primary concern.
Obama’s main economic message has been
to invest in infrastructure and green energy
to spur job growth provide long-term benefits
to the country.
McCain has criticized the spending that
will be required for the plan, insisting that
Obama will raise taxes to fund it.
Obama has stated, however, that 95 percent of Americans will not see a tax increase
if he is elected.
Butterflies in Bloom
Weather
72'$<
buy up bad mortgages around the country
and issue new, cheaper, government insured
mortgages to the existing homeowners.
McCain says that the plan will “keep families
in their homes, avoid foreclosures, save failing
neighborhoods, stabilize the housing market
and attack the roots of our financial crisis.”
Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign economic
policy director, Jason Furman, responded
to the plan by calling it “costly and out-oftouch,” adding that it would overly reward
the financial institutions with the worst lending practices.
Sunny, with a high
near 75. Calm wind
becoming north
between 6 and 9 mph.
75
53
6$785'$<
Sunny, with a high
near 71. North wind
between 6 and 8 mph.
71
54
Markets
Dow 8,579.19
Nasdaq 1,645.12
S&P 500 909.92
-678.91 -7.33%
-95.21 -5.47%
-75.02 -7.62%
Inside
NEWS &
COMMENTARY
A2 1DWLRQ
A3 & A4 :RUOG
A5 /RFDO
LIFE &
LEISURE
B1 (QWHUWDLQPHQW
B2$UWV&XOWXUH
B3 /LIH
B4:HOOQHVV
A
A6 %XVLQHVV
A7 3HUVSHFWLYHV
A8 6SRUWV
B
B5 'LQLQJ2XW
B6&ODVVL൥HGV
B7 &ODVVL൥HGV
B85HDO(VWDWH
www.theEpochTimes.com
SETH HOLEHOUSE/THE EPOCH TIMES
ALIVE IN WINTER: Returning for the 11th year, The Butterfly
Conservatory: Tropical Butterflies Alive in Winter, opens this Saturday,
October 11th at the American Museum of Natural History, and will run
through winter to spring of 2009. The exhibit allows visitors to interact with
butterflies inside a l,200 square foot vivarium with tropical plants exotically
colored blossoms in a simulated tropical rain forest environment. The
museum is open daily 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.
take the Fed’s actions as a sign of
further distress ahead, as familiar
fears—credit freeze, consumer
spending, and economic outlook—led a broad equities selloff
across all sectors.
In Europe, London’s FTSE 100
fell 1.2 percent, France’s CAC 40
shed 1.5 percent, and Germany’s
DAX ended 2.5 percent lower.
For a more in depth market recap
please see A6
Both camps have found economists and
scholars to support their respective plans.
The McCain campaign however went a step
further and issued a statement signed by 100
economists, including five Nobel laureates,
which concluded that Obama’s economic
policies “defy both economic reason and
economic experience.”
The recent rate cut by central banks
around the world has won praise from both
candidates.
Both McCain and Obama are focused on
selling their policies as protecting the average
American family, solidifying voter confidence
within the Republican and Democrat bases
of voters.
Prosecutors Wrap Up Case
Against Senator Stevens
WASHINGTON D.C. (Reuters)—Prosecutors
wrapped up their case in the corruption trial of
Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens on Thursday after
calling a final witness who testified about his work in
renovating the Alaska lawmaker’s home.
Stevens, one of the Senate’s most powerful Republicans, is accused of lying on his financial disclosure
forms to conceal more than $250,000 in renovations
and other gifts from Alaska oil services firm VECO
Corp and its former chief executive, Bill Allen.
Prosecutors called David Anderson, Allen’s
nephew and a welder for VECO, who said that in
2000 and 2001 he worked on Stevens’ home in Girdwood, Alaska.
Anderson testified how he spent months, often
joined by other VECO workers, helping to build
a new first floor, a garage and two outside decks,
replace some of the windows and do a number of
other projects.
He said he often worked 10 hours a day, for six
days a week.
Prosecutors called Anderson to testify after the
judge told the jury to disregard some VECO business records that showed Anderson had worked
hundreds of hours on the project.
As a sanction for prosecutors, the judge told the
jury to disregard the records because prosecutors
knew Anderson actually was in Oregon for some of
the time when the records showed him to be working
on the house.
On at least three separate occasions, the judge has
sharply criticized the prosecutors for failing to turn
over evidence helpful to the defense.
PLEASE SEE STEVENS ON A2
Food Safety regulators
investigate suspected
Kraft melamime laced
products
By SONYA BRYSKINE
(SRFK7LPHV6WDൠ
SYDNEY, Australia—Australian food safety regulator said that
Kraft is being investigated in the
wake of the scandal that has found
the industrial chemical melamine
in numerous made-in-China dairy
products.
“We have specifically asked for
ingredient list for Ritz biscuits,”
said Lydia Bruchtman, the Food
Safety Australia and New Zealand
(FSANZ) media coordinator.
Ritz Cheese Crackers, manufactured in China under Kraft’s offshore brand Nabisco, are currently
sold in major supermarket chains
like Woolworths and Coles. The
product contains 6 percent cheddar
cheese. Last week Nabisco Cheese
Sandwich biscuits were recalled in
South Korea, after testing positive
to melamine—a chemical used to
make glue, fertilizer, and plastics.
Melamine presence in baby
formula across China has led to
the deaths of four infants, while at
least 50,000 are suffering from kidney problems. The chemical easily
mimics protein components and
masks the otherwise low nutritional
value.
According to media reports,
Kraft Foods and Mars suspended
their Indonesian sales of Oreo
cookies, M&M’s, and Snickers bar
in late September. Tests made by
the Indonesian FDMA have also
revealed traces of melamine.
However, the U.S.-based Kraft
has denied that any of their products contain Chinese dairy. The
Australian Kraft Company says
that 91 percent of the products are
made from Australian ingredients.
“In the biscuits we use Australian and New Zealand dairy,” said
Simon Talbot, the head of Corporate Kraft Management for Australia and New Zealand.
PLEASE SEE DAIRY SCANDAL ON A4
U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) arrives at the U.S.
District Courthouse for the opening arguments
in his trial on charges of false disclosure, Sept.
25, in Washington, DC.
JONATHAN ERNST/GETTY IMAGES