He said the work at his small business may not suffer but profits would.

Higgins said he anticipates more government regulations on Wall Street.

“(Wall Street) will never be the same,” he said. “They got so fat and happy. Now we can fix it, improve it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

WAR

Voters evidently agreed with Obama that the war has gone on too long. Can he meet his pledge to bring troops home in 16 months?

“I agree with him (about bringing the troops home),” said Arlene Haase, associate dean at Indiana Business College. “The Iraqis really need to start taking care of themselves.”

She said she was unclear why the United States went to Iraq in the first place. Still, she wasn’t sure Obama could have them out in 16 months.

“He’ll try,” she said. “Sixteen months might be too short. We can’t sustain this (war) anyway. People are losing fathers, brothers and sons. We have to start pulling them out.”

Others felt unsure.

“The troops will come home sooner,” said Overdorf about Obama’s election. “That could be devastating to pull them out fast.”

She said she has a brother-in-law who finished his third term in Iraq, and a son who just joined the Marines.

“They wanted to go fight,” she said.

Hall predicts a measured response about the war when Obama takes office.

“He’ll be more pragmatic,” Hall said. “The situation on the ground will dictate when he can move.”

Obama wants to shift troops in Iraq to Afghanistan, said Hall, and this will happen when the Iraqi army can provide security.