Sept. 6, 2002

Networking

Excerpts From Recent Radio and Television
Interviews With Members of the GW Community.

Paul Butler, professor of law
[As heard in an interview on CNBC’s “The News with Brian Williams” July 25, responding to the decision of accused Sept. 11 conspirator Zaccarius Moussaoui’s decision to represent himself.]

The judge has ruled time and time again that he is competent. It's a fairly low standard, but it’s based on a constitutional right, and in this case there is a kind of battle of constitutional rights. One, Mr. Moussaoui’s right to defend himself. On the other hand, he’s got a right to a fair trial. And ironically, he may be undermining that right to a fair trial with insistence on defending himself. This is a case that will challenge even an experienced criminal defense attorney. There are complicated national security and constitutional issues, and Mr. Moussaoui, no matter how committed or intelligent he is, is simply in over his head.

Darryl Jenkins, director, Aviation Institute
[As heard in an interview on CNBC’s “The News with Brian Williams” Aug. 12, responding to recent declarations of bankruptcy in the airline industry.]

Since the third quarter of 1999, we have seen the airline industry as a whole begin to lose money again. And that’s partially because of the dot-com explosion, and we lost some of our high-fare-paying business travelers. So we were in distress before Sept. 11, and Sept. 11 really made things quite unbearable.

…[F]or the next year, travelers are going to have very good deals as long as we have excess capacity. In the short run, one of the big problems we have is there are just too many planes in the air, too many seats out there in relationship to how many travelers we have. And so as the airlines as a group begin pulling in capacity, we are going to see losses continue in to the future.

Susan Phillips, dean, School of Business and Public Management
[As heard in an interview on CNNfn’s “Market Call,” Aug. 13, responding to questions about potential Federal Reserve actions.]

There are limits as to what monetary policy can do. A lot of the kinds of problems that we’re seeing right now are probably not going to be as influenced by interest rates.

I think there’s a good deal of overhanging uncertainty regarding the corporate governance — what’s going to happen with various corporations. We’re seeing daily headlines on that. The stock markets having gone down, I think, has shaken people’s confidence somewhat. That’s not only on the household sector, but also, and I think most importantly, on the business side.

Right now a lot of corporate executives are checking their balance sheets. They’re not as much focused on expansion at the moment. That’s what the Fed has to balance: whether we’re going to see a turnaround as we kick into fall, or if we’re going to see more of a downward spiral. So, that is, I suspect, what the Fed is debating today.

 

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