Editor, the Tiger:

As a professor once said, “We live in interesting times.” I’m not sure when times would have been really boring, other than the Dark Ages, which we don’t know much about anyway, but in the now, things are very interesting. Leaders from all sectors of society see the current state of the economy as the worst in condition since 1929. To use the political lingo floating around out there, things have deteriorated so badly on Wall Street they’ve now affected Main Street. 

To misquote MC Hammer: “Stop. Bailout time.” The Federal Government has expanded its role as a giant debt carrier for businesses and state governments with bailout and stimulus packages to help the nations’ financial sector rebuild and its industrial sector retool. Even if many people can’t find the Constitutional basis for a massive bailout and stimulus packages, what’s done is done and is a nasty little addition to the national debt. T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire financier turned alternative energy activist, has had to face a hard time selling his wind/solar energy plan for America because the natural gas price collapsed, along with consumer demand.

Even Hampden-Sydney has been affected by this collapse in the world economy. The College projected an enrollment about 325 students for the Freshmen Class, and upon matriculation, about 294 freshmen joined the ranks of Hampden-Sydney men. This does not include other losses from other classes. Since the College is a private institution we run our revenues mainly off of tuition and donations.

The school received a double whammy with a hit in the endowment. What else could go wrong? We’ve seen some surprise movements on campus of administration: either early retirement of popular administrators or the disappearance of others. While this all may seem gloom and doom, there are some “pluses.” Gas prices are still high, though not as high as the peak of the summer of last year (when we were in a recession anyway). Textbooks are still priced very high, as students will always need their books. Tuition rose in lieu of the student shortfall.

Seriously, there are some actual positives to this downturn. We’ve hired new professors, Wal-Mart still has some unbeatable prices (whether or not you like to shop there), and VTAG still exists. For all of those are mindful of the environment, the collapse in the economy has led to reduced consumption, and thus, less waste and pollution. Frugality is the name of the game these days, and while I am very sure Hampden-Sydney and her students will weather this economic storm, on a slightly optimistic note, we survived the post-Civil War period & the Great Depression. To leave on an optimistic note, tomorrow is a brand new day.

Related posts:

1. Why We Can’t Stimulate, Quantitatively Ease, or Twist our way to Prosperity