John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. served as the 30th president of the United States, from 1923 to 1939. He was known as "Silent Cal" probably because in his own words he was "never sorry for something (he) never said." He was thought by some to be overly concerned with the budget, and maybe he was, but wouldn't we be better off if that attitude would once again rear its head in our nation's capital?
He spoke often of the necessity of government to operate as frugally as possible, but one particular quote made to a group of Jewish philanthropists around 1925 summarizes his entire philosophy concerning his strong feelings about budgeting for the nation.
Here's the quote:
"The budget idea, I may admit, is a sort of obsession with me. I believe in budgets. I want other people to believe in them. I have had a small one to run my own home; and besides that, I am the head of the organization that makes the greatest of all budgets, that of the United States government. Do you wonder, then, that at times I dream of balance sheets and sinking funds, and deficits, and tax rates, and all the rest? I regard a good budget as among the noblest monuments of virtue."
