Story by: Laurie Carlson

“People who claim to be the most patriotic tend to hate the country or government at least, because of taxes,” said Floyd Norris, chief financial correspondent of the New York Times.

 
Rachel Thomas, a student journalist at the University of Utah, commented on what Norris said.

 
“The people who hate the government the most are the people who are putting time and loyalty into the government. Any time the government lets those loyal people down, they are obviously going to be the people who are the most hurt,” she said.

 
Another student journalist at the University of Utah, Marquis Newman also had something to say about Norris’s remarks.

 
“I think no matter who is in power, people hate the government and that’s because the government is so slow and problems take months or years to get fixed. People definitely can be patriotic but criticize the government at the same time. Maybe if the government leaders were more sympathetic to the voters over their power, then we would be happier citizens over being patriotic. I think then our government would be a lot better.

 
Norris went on to say the American people might respond better if they have joint sacrifice. Americans need to have a love for this country and a want for helping America which will have to come through a great sacrifice.

 
“Everyone will need to sacrifice, being proud to pay taxes, it proves I am successful and I wouldn’t mind paying more to help us get out of this mess,” Norris said.

 
“People definitely can be patriotic but criticize the government at the same time,” said Marquis Newman.

 
“American people also need to have an attitude of pride and ideology. Being a U.S. citizen you should be proud to be in the U.S. We have a great country and a democracy, which makes our country great. Plus we have politics that are of the people and for the people. The political side is slow moving but we should be proud to be Americans who have a free country,” said Norris.

 
The same ideology that created the Great Depression is upsetting efforts to pull out of the current recession. “Why should college students be concerned about the economy?” Question asked by a University of Utah student journalist, Sean Gustafson, to Floyd Norris commenting on the recession.

 
Floyd Norris commented back by saying, “The obvious answer which all the seniors would know is that some point you are going to be out in the real world looking for jobs.”

 
This process would be a whole lot easier if people were hiring.

 
“I think people sometimes assume that we are a well operated economy and if we assume that won’t always help us.” Some people don’t have to worry about the economy if they have somehow found a job that could be their career now, and the vast majority of Americans are working now.

 
The United States never fought a war without raising taxes to pay for it. It seems as if this can be done for free. If the government keeps raising taxes more people are going to have to somehow try to find jobs in this recession. That problem can bring more people to hate the government. As Floyd Norris mentioned earlier, “You should be proud to pay taxes because it proves you are a successful American.”

 
On Oct. 26,2011 this event took place at the University of Utah, Marriott library.