Cato Daily Dispatch for October 3, 2002
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Philippine Authorities Blame Abu Sayyaf for ExplosionProsecutors Turn Up Heat on Martha Stewart
Trade Panel Approves Duties on Imported Steel
Philippine Authorities Blame Abu Sayyaf for Explosion
A new explosion rocked a largely Christian city in the southern Philippines today as officials blamed Muslim extremists linked to al-Qaeda for a blast the day before which killed a U.S. soldier and the suspected bomber, Reuters reports.
No one was injured in the latest explosion which occurred outside a Christian church on the outskirts of Zamboanga city.
Military chief General Benjamin Defensor blamed the Muslim Abu Sayyaf group for yesterday's blast which killed the American and two Filipinos, including the alleged bomber. Twenty-three were wounded, including another American soldier.
In "Our War Against Bandits," Senior Fellow Doug Bandow is skeptical of the need for U.S. involvement in the Philippines as Abu Sayyaf's links to al-Qaeda are "tangential at best" and the Philippine government should be able to bring the group's members to justice. "Abu Sayyaf has shown no interest in conducting a serious campaign against the U.S.," writes Bandow.
Prosecutors Turn Up Heat on Martha Stewart
Prosecutors may have moved a step closer to Martha Stewart in their investigation of her alleged insider stock deals, according to the Associated Press.
Douglas Faneuil, an assistant to Stewart's stockbroker, pleaded guilty yesterday to a misdemeanor charge of receiving money and other valuables for keeping quiet about Stewart's sale of ImClone Systems Inc. shares last December.
Stewart dumped nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone just before the stock price began to plunge on news that the Food and Drug Administration would not review its application for its highly touted cancer drug, Erbitux. The FDA decision meant that the drug, upon which the company's fortunes relied, was unlikely to gain approval soon.
Senior Fellow Alan Reynolds writes in "Free Martha Stewart," that accusations of insider trading leveled against Stewart are not true. "Miss Stewart is being sued for selling shares in her own company in January for $15 (lower than its price before June 6) on the theory that she somehow anticipated by six months becoming the victim of an anonymous and false congressional smear on June 6. Even the silliest lawsuits can pay off, which makes it financially risky for Miss Stewart to say much. Anything you say can be held against you, but anything the government says about you is just your tough luck."
Trade Panel Approves Duties on Imported Steel
A federal trade panel approved duties as high as 369 percent on imports of steel wire rods today, a move that will shelter American mills but which provoked angry protests from American companies that use the rods to make wire, The New York Times reports.
In a 5-to-0 vote, the panel, the International Trade Commission, ruled that low-priced imports from countries like Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and Ukraine were hurting American producers and should be restricted.
The decision means that the Commerce Department can now impose duties it recommended in August. Mexican imports will face duties of 20 percent; Brazil 101 percent; Ukraine 116 percent; and the former Soviet republic of Moldova 369 percent.
The decision is almost certain to antagonize countries that were already angry about steel tariffs up to 30 percent that President Bush imposed in March.
In "Honorable End to Steel Protectionism," Trade Policy Analyst Dan Ikenson argues, "The conventional wisdom that protecting steel is a relatively painless prerequisite for advancing an agenda of broader trade liberalization is no longer conventional or wise."
Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org