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Debate roundtable: Ohio voters pick Romney as winner
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (L) and Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. President Barack Obama (R) during the Presidential Debate at the University of Denver on October 3, 2012 in Denver, Colorado.
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Following the presidential debate, voters in the swing state of Ohio weigh in on what issues matter most for the middle class this election and who won the debate.
Kelley Beloff, who works in the health care industry and leans right, says tax rates are impacting her vote, "I am totally middle class...and the big thing for me was hearing Mr. Romney talk about bringing down our taxes. My husband owns his own business, and we pay those individual taxes, and it is very difficult at times to make those tax payments."
Dan Schneider, an elementary school teacher, cites tax deductions as key to the middle class, "I'm still waiting to hear if my mortgage interest deduction is safe...it's the only deduction the middle class gets." Schneider is also concerned about financial reform, "people should know if they make bad investments and they make bad bets and they lose, then there is a penalty for that."
Across the political spectrum, voters are impressed with republican candidate Mitt Romney's debate performance, "Romney came across as someone who is knowledgeable, presidential, and almost as someone that I would want to vote for," says Linda Lee, a retiree and undecided voter.
John Witkowski, a tax accountant who leans to the left, agrees, "Romney kind of won this one, he came off much better than he has in the past. Obama kind of seemed scripted."
Ms. Beloff, you did not get where you are today without "someone else" (yes, the federal government) helping you. You went to school on Pell grants. Your husband was in the Air Force and no doubt received benefits when he left service. EVERYONE WORKS. Get over that Republican chip on your shoulder than YOU work hard but others do not. Your story is TYPICAL, not special. You won't gain two cents voting for Mitt Romney. You almost got foreclosed on... Romney said you should lose your house to let the housing market correct itself. You won't get any small business loans bec. Romney will kill the SBA. Have you collected unemployment insurance? Another government HANDOUT -- give it back!! Really, get your facts in order before you make a bad vote. If you are burdened by taxes it's because you haven't figured out how to hide your income as well as Mr. Romney. You don't make enough to sit at his table. He'll take away you and your grandmother's Medicare and Social Security. Then you will have no one to blame but yourself.
Wow, where do begin. First, I did not state that my husband and I worker harder than anyone else, only that we work hard. All business owners work hard. As to "someone else" helping me, really. There was no one there to take care of my kids, cook dinner after working all day, or helping me complete my MBA while working full time and raising three children. Each person succeeds or fails based on their own work, period. I took out the loans for my degrees, I pay my mortgage each month, I get up every morning looking for a job, I will succeed because of my strengths. Instead of looking at people as victims that need to be taken care of, try looking at individuals gifted with strengths and abilities to succeed on their own merits.
Thanks for both of the comments.
I think there is a lot of confusion about both middle class and small businesses and the politicians exploit it on both sides.
Many people do think of themselves in the middle when they are not, sometimes there is slow creep or new jobs which a family makes more money but lives the same lifestyle so continue to think of themselves in middle income range, even if they have risen above it.
Also not all small businesses are indeed the truly "small" (handful of employees, lower income) businesses described here. Many are in fact multi-million dollar companies. But somehow the same rules apply. Perhaps our federal and state tax codes should reflect the differences as a small business grows and become a lot less "small" whether in # of employees or financially.
In the story Kelly Berloff is described as "working in the health care industry" and that her "husband owns his own business." She also describes herself as being in "the middle class." Really? I wonder what she defines as "average" or "middle?' The Census reports the median household income for Ohio is about $47,500...does Ms. Berloff and her husband's company combined earn less than $47,500? Or,could it be, that she, like so many on the right, is relatively pretty well-off, but they still consider themselves "average" because they many other who make more than they do. Thus, they believe everyone is "just like them" and those who are less well off than themselves simply "have not worked hard enough." Those on the right often never really do come into contact with those "in the middle" except when those people are working for them...perhaps Marketplace could do a better job in finding people who actually, are, "middle class." Or perhaps I am wrong...
Bramdl, right? (looking at your kind misspellings)
I can assure you that Kelley and Samuel have both come into contact with people who you assume they think haven't worked "hard enough" as well as contribute more then what they earn to their community and influence those around them to do the same. :)
Mr. Brandt,
I appreciate you listening to our round table discussion on the debate Wednesday evening Oct. 3. I was honored to be chosen to participate. I would like to answer your question as to whether I am truly middle class or not. I was raised in Springfield Ohio by middle class parents. My dad built trucks for the local company Navistar and my mom was a School Secretary. While my grandmother graduated from college and was a school teacher, neither of my parents graduated. I was able to get student loans and pell grants to attend college and graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1985. I married my high school sweetheart who was an officer in the United States Air Force, in which he served for 8 years. In 1992, with two children, we returned home where my husband worked in his family business, a Pawn Shop started by his grandfather. I stayed home, raising our two daughters and then son for nine years. We lived in a modest home in Springfield, never earning more than $35,ooo.oo a year for all that time. As the children grew and our savings grew we were able to move to a larger home in Beavercreek, Ohio, where we still live today. I went back to work part time in my husband's business while our children grew and entered elementary and middle school. While I had my Master's in Social Work, I was unable to find a job in Social Work and ended up working for a doctor who had suffered a business set back and hired me to turn her business around. I was hired in at $14.00 an hour, but when I left after 8 years, I had expanded her business revenue by 37% and had gone back to school to get my MBA. I am a certified medical manager, unfortunately unemployed due to the financial losses currently being suffered by medical doctors. My husband bought out his interest in the family business in 2004 and opened his own Pawn Shop. In 2010 we suffered a catastrophic episode in the building we were leasing and were forced to move to less desirable location and suffered a financial loss, for which we are currently in litigation. My husband, who had one full time and two part time employees in 2010 is now down to managing the business himself, with myself assisting while I look for a job. Our home is facing foreclosure and our daughter who graduated college in the Spring had to move back home due to lack of job opportunities. We have not had a vacation since 2005 and do not anticipate any in the near future. I do not tell you this for sympathy, but to let you know that small business owners are the back bone of this country and we have suffered greatly under this current regime. Through hard work, and liquidating our retirement accounts, we have kept our house and are re-building our business. I am confident that I will find a job soon, I have been out of work since February, and our daughter will realize her dream on owning a bakery. Why am I confident, because our next President Mitt Romney understands hard work and the desire to succeed and instead of placing impediments in our way, he will work for legislation to help the small business.
It is sad that all liberals think that everyone business owner is rich off the backs of other people. My husband built his business. "Someone else" did not come home at 8 pm every night, only to do paperwork. "Someone else" did not take out the loans to make his dream of owning his own business come true. "Someone else" does not get up at 6 am every day, even weekends, to go open his business so he can provide for his family. Through his example of hard work, our oldest daughters have worked since they were in High School. Our son gave up his summer and every weekend to work for his dad so we keep our business going. Small business and micro businesses are manned by men and women willing to forgo the comforts and safety offered by working for someone else to build a business that benefits not only them but their community as well.
As to our salary, we have made less than $47,000.00 more often in our years of marriage that more than $47,000.00, but since the day my husband entered the realm of small business owner, we have been burdened not only with annual taxes, but quarterly taxes based on our perceived wealth. But, I would not change a thing. Owning our own business is a sense of pride in our family and an opportunity for my husband to be part of the community in which we grew up and now live. It has given our children a strong sense of community and responsibility towards employees and patrons.
So, to your point am I Middle Class, Yes I am.
Kelley, there are plenty of us who have not become seeming apparatchiks to the new "cultural revolution." Real world finance has apparently not been their forte. Your "credential statement" is commendable. I, too, help operate a family business where we are subject to a myriad of similar bureaucratic nit pickers who perpetuate their existence in finding endless fault with others. To lift an old byline, "keep the faith."
