“Taxes – going up. Will they go down? Will it ever get resolved? Is there going to be money when I retire? Will I have enough money to pay for my daughters to go to college next year?”
(Sharon Gibbs, 46, of Clay, data entry employee for Xerox, Republican)
“Wages, better benefits. How are things going to turn out? Things are getting kind of tighter. There are a lot of layoffs, you know. You don’t know how the next situation is going to be, if the next contract is coming in pretty soon.”
(Byron Evans, 48, of Syracuse’s Valley neighborhood, Syracuse University maintenance worker, Democrat)
“I’m not very happy with the Obama administration. It’s not only because I’m conservative, but I think he’s leaning – thinking he can fulfill a European-Scandinavian form of government in the United States because we are too diverse. I just really believe that the government – make sure the people are honest, that’s their role. It’s like, look, we have checks and balances. Spend the money on making sure people pay their taxes, people aren’t cheating on Medicaid.”
(Christina Kalinowski, 60, of Solvay, unemployed, unaffiliated with a political pa
rty)
“A better foreign policy. If you have a better foreign policy, you’re not getting so involved with, you know, conflicts all over the place. Bring the troops home, bring the bases home.”
(Tom Babilon, 41, of Syracuse’s Hawley-Green neighborhood, attorney, Democrat)
“Well, taxes – they’re always an issue. I’m paying more taxes. I’m not a government employee, so I’m in the private sector. And it seems like the only way they’re going to get out of this budget deal is to tax the private sector.”
(Tim Fesko, 59, of Liverpool, construction supervisor, Democrat)
(Dara McBride is a senior with dual majors in business management and newspaper and online journalism.)
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