One of the things that I admire of the American president Calvin Coolidge, besides his commitment to civil rights, is his fiscal prudency.
Coolidge was President of the United States during the ‘Roaring Twenties.’ This was an era in which every good was being produced and consumed endlessly.
Money and credit was in extreme abundance.
Everyone seemed to own a car; everyone seemed to own a radio. (which were both big deals at the time)
Books by Winston Churchill, Rebecca West, and F.Scott Fitzgerald were being read by the millions. Everyone was consuming an abundant amount of consumable consumables.
However, even during this time of abundant abundance the American government under Coolidge never spent more than it had to.
Even during a brutal winter, Coolidge refused to turn up the heat in the White House in order to a few save dimes and pennies.
Recently, the executive of SRC attempted to spend more money on Orientation Week
Their request was denied council.
If the SRC was allowed to spend more than budgeted, there would be a chance that it would run a deficit in the years budget.
A governmental deficit is nothing more than a fancy term meaning the spending of non-existent money in the present.
The hope is that the payoff will be good enough so that there is more money after the binge spending than there was before.This is not always an assured outcome, especially for a non-profit like the SRC.
The consequences of a SRC deficit are obviously not as severe as a government one, although by running deficits the SRC would have needlessly have spent money it could have saved for the future.
A university is not only a place of light, liberty, and learning – not only of drinking and binge watching the latest fad show on Netflix – it is also a place of responsibility.
Responsibility with money is especially important, particularly when many students exit university with a significant amount of debt on their hands.
Being fiscally prudent early in life is a paramount responsibility – by doing so you can shorten the time after college spent in debt.
By refusing the to let the executive increase the budget line for orientation, the SRC set a good example to the student body- to live within your means.
Hopefully, such actions happen more often in the future.
