Category Archives: Government

New Poll Reveals Importance of National Budget in Upcoming Election

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by Brent Flory

SALT LAKE CITY-According to a new poll conducted by Gallup, registered voters say the presidential candidates’ views on the federal budget deficit and national debt will be extremely important in determining who gets their vote.

For President Barack Obama, this means focusing his campaign on plans to decrease national debt.  If not successfully executed, it could be the end of the road for Obama.

            According to the poll, released on Monday, 83 percent of Democrats say the federal budget deficit and national debt will strongly influence their choice for president.  If Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination, he could gain some Democratic votes, if voters believe he is the better choice for the economy.

            Local voters agree with the poll.  Amber Christenson, a Salt Lake Community College student, said, “I was one of the biggest Obama supporters in 2008 but the national debt just continues to increase.  I won’t be voting for him in November.”

            Christenson said she agrees with many of President Obama’s views however, the economy is most important in determining her vote.

            The poll also revealed 83 percent of Republicans feel the issue of national debt is imperative in making their choice for president.  University of Utah student Brett Andrews, a declared Republican, said he will vote for the candidate that has developed the best economic blueprint.

            “We are paying billions of dollars in interest…we aren’t even paying off our deficit.  I’m going to choose the candidate with the best economic plan in place,” said Andrews.

            Gas prices are also important to voters, according to the new poll.  Of the registered voters polled, 73 percent said gas prices were important when they fill out their ballots.

            When asked to what degree of importance gas prices in determining his vote, Andrews replied, “Economy is most important.  If the economy is in-line, gas prices naturally will go down.”

            Complete details of the poll can be found online at http://www.gallup.com.

Birth Control ranks lowest among voters concerns.

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According to USA Today/Gallup poll, Americans are less concerned with government policies concerning birth control than any other issue discussed in this year’s presidential election campaign.

Only 20 percent of registered voters voted birth control as an extremely important national issue. Other concerns, such as international issues, were voted at least a 36 percent on the national issues list.

Some Americans feel that birth control should not be a national issue at all and should not even be mentioned.

“I don’t agree that birth control should be a national issue, it should be personal,” said Hilda Bravo, University of Utah academic program specialist. “I think that I would just rather they don’t talk about it.”

Where most Americans agree with Bravo, there are a few that believe that the government policies behind birth control are to be concerned with.

“I can see why most people would rank birth control as the least of national concern but what they aren’t looking at are the government policies behind birth control,” said Karen Klc, University of Utah secretary. “I still would not rank it the top concern but I definitely would not rank it the lowest.”

University of Utah student, Steve Richardson agreed with both Klc and Bravo concerning the birth control issue. He believes that birth control is an important issue to be concerned with. However, he also believes that there are other national issues such as healthcare and gas prices that require more attention.

Trayvon Martin Police and Incident Reports Released

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The incident records surrounding the fatal shooting of Travyon Martin last month by a community watch volunteer have been released. Since there is still an ongoing police investigation, the Sanford Police Department has limited information, but Chief Bill Lee Jr. has stated, “The death of anyone due to violence, especially a 17-year-old young man, is morally appalling.”

The details of the original incident are still under debate, but the transcripts for the initial 911 call that George Zimmerman, the community watch volunteer involved in the shooting, placed to the Sanford Police Department and the police report have both been released.

According to Zimmerman in the 911 transcripts, Martin, a 17-year-old African-American male, was “just walking around, looking about.”

Zimmerman then described Martin to the dispatcher and followed Martin until the dispatcher told him “we don’t need you to do that.”

Zimmerman also stated things like, “These assholes they always get away,” and “This guy looks like he’s up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something.” Zimmerman held a concealed weapon permit issued by the State of Florida.

The official police report describes that two officers, Ricardo Ayala and Timothy Smith were dispatched around 7 p.m. to the Sanford neighborhood in reference to a complaint about a suspicious person and received calls about gunshots being fired.

Zimmerman’s official statement, according to Chief Lee, was that “he had lost sight of Trayvon and was returning to his truck to meet the police officer when he says he was attacked by Trayvon.” When police arrived, they investigated to find Martin without a pulse in the grass. The officers then removed Zimmerman’s handgun and placed him in police custody.

Students Gain a Glimpse into the State of the US Economy

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Story by Sean Gustafson

“There is no way out of this crisis,” Floyd Norris told students at the University of Utah on Oct. 26, 2011, when talking about the current condition of the United States’ economy; clarifying his statement Norris, the chief financial columnist for the New York Times, continued by stating, “at least not simply.”

Norris began his lecture by comparing the current U.S. economy with previous economic hard times and some of the lessons that have came about from those time periods.

“One of the things I [have] learned [in school] was that it was never really consented what caused the Great Depression.”  Norris continued with because there wasn’t that consensus, it played a major role for what has been going wrong recently.

Norris continued because there wasn’t this consensus on what lead to the Great Depression and later recessions, people didn’t understand the economy. People would continue to spend more than they could afford, banks made poor loans choices and all together people were and still are ignorant to financial matters.

Expanding on this, Norris added, “A lot of the suffering we are undergoing now… was brought about by people who bought homes they should have never purchased and paid more than they could have afford.” People, not understanding beyond the basics of finances and debt, foolishly feel victims to the plague of credit-debt that still haunts many today.

When asked for further clarification on these matters, Norris responded with “I think people assume… a well operating economic and financial system; and if you assume it you won’t pay any attention to it.”

Another point Norris spoke about was that “when credit is easy, it’s a lot of fun.”
Expanding on that statement, student Laurie Carlson said, “If you don’t have credit than you can’t get anywhere.” Carlson continued by expressing with good credit one can buy the houses they want, get their dream car, and receive better loan rates.

When asked about whether or not they understood the topics discussed at the lecture, a lot of the students attending had expressed they had known either very little about finance and the economy or nothing at all beforehand. “I didn’t understand a lot of the technical terms.” said student Halley Hamman.

Despite the swimming in this sea of confusion, there were students who still found the lecture benefitting. Some students took this event as an eye-opening opportunity, such as student Marquis Newman, who expressed because he had a hard time following the lecture he believed he “should learn more about finances.”

Neela Pack, the Student Body President for the University of Utah, said that she felt the lecture was “supper successful.” It got student to think on matters that they wouldn’t normally think about. Pack added that the students were lucky to have such an “esteemed and well respected journalist” talking on such matters.

At the conclusion of the lecture Norris, expressed his optimism for the future when he stated that he believed the economy “will come around.” Norris exclaimed that there were problems before, and there will continue to be problems.

After illustrating the example of Steve Jobs and all he has done, Norris concluded, “this [market of ours] is an amazing system to produce stories like that.”   [539]

Floyd Norris Can Save the Economy

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Story by Marquis Newman

On Wednesday, Oct. 26, Floyd Norris, the chief financial correspondent for The New York Times, discussed that concessions, such as another stimulus and extending low interest rates on mortgages, need to be done to help the U.S. economy.  These concessions could help get the U.S. economy out of flux.

In the midst of a presidential election, Republicans and Democrats are debating and arguing about the economy, whose fault it is that the U.S. economy is bad and what can be done to fix the economy. Norris has many valid points on the subject and joked that maybe President Barack Obama and U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor should read one or two of his columns.

Many Republicans believe that a stimulus does not work. “There are a lot of references to Obama’s failed stimulus plan,” said Norris. He joked that the national government not trying another round of stimulus is similar to a student who studies for a test, but does poorly and says “Well there is obviously no point in studying.” Norris said the government should try another stimulus and maybe it could be a short term alternative, until politicians can figure out a long term solution.

Extending the benefits of low interest rates on mortgages is something that Norris said he believes will benefit the economy and will help people who really need the low interest rates.

“Many people can’t refinance,” according to Norris, who argued that letting somebody re-borrow money at a lower interest rate does not increase the credit risk, but might actually let people pay the debts they owe when they wouldn’t have been able to before.

“Credit gets you places,” said Laurie Carlson, a student at the University of Utah who attended the event. If decreasing the requirements to get a lower interest rate on a mortgage doesn’t increase risk and helps out the homeowner’s credit, then banks should look to initiate this.

There are many people to blame for America’s financial crisis.

“We used to take for granted that the government should try to improve the economy and that there were things it could do,” said Norris. The Great Depression, which the recent recession has often been compared to, is used as the model for how to get out of a depression. Economists learned a great deal about how to get out of a recession during that time, but according to Norris, “I think the fact that we never reached a consensus on that [how the Great Depression started], is what went wrong recently.”

Many of the guests who attended the talk believed that Norris’s ideas were excellent and wondered why some of them haven’t already been implemented.

“I wish he could make a bigger difference” said Lauron Bailey, a guest of the event. Another student who was at the event, Sean Gustafson said “He got me to think….this was definitely something that could spark.”

The event ended with Norris answering questions from curious attendees and giving advice to struggling homeowners and job seekers. As some of Norris’s views gain popularity around the financial community, maybe eyes at the nation’s capital will begin to take notice of some of the ideas that Norris has.