Regional President Speech

· - . . ,1 j , members~ Thank you for that kind introduction. Faculty graduates,l'f amilY and friends of the candidate~~d ladies and gentlemen . . ­ I am delighted and honored to have been aSKed to participate in this happy occasion. A happy occasion for the faculty and ~~ltor staff of the it marks the close of another academic year coupled with the feeling that they have given a part of themselves to each of you being honored here tonigh~~ , certain~y, ~py thos~~~ and memorable occasion for ~ receive diplomas this evening -- a wrJ¢ten t estament by this university that you have successfully completed the course of study represented by the degree being conferred. A noteworthy E -achievem .. ent, indeed • And finally , a happy occasion for the family and friends of F the candidates -- particularly to parents, who may have some anxious moments and perhaps even some doubts ex~erienced ~I~ that this event would include t heir On a personal note and as a native Missourian,/I particularly enjoy the opportunity to help the graduates of the College of Business and Public Administ~ation commence theii transition into W ill the 8-to-S world. I would hope that many of your you~begin careers right here in Missouri. You perhaps know that the special qualities of we Missourians were immortalized in - .. Congressman Vandi ve rls famous quote in 1899. He said "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisf-ies me. 11m from Missouri. You have got t o show me." ..,.... . '" ...; -2­ As a Missourian, my style is rather short 'on "frothy J) -z;:t;;::Ic eloquence" as the Congressman put it. AThat's good, because convocation audiences fear "frothy eloquence" just as they fear lengthy a nd pond~rous commentaries. In fact, it's been said that the gr~atest achievement of graduation is sitting through the commencement exercises. But these occasions are part ot a great tradition which rightfully should be re-enacted here tonight. - Right now, I'm sure that you are enjoying your academic success as well as experiencing some relief at having completed the task. Your enthusiasm and energy for your next step in 11fe, however, maybe tempered somewhat by a feeling of war iness and ; perhaps even a bit of fear of the unknown. Fear and wariness and anticipation are all part of on, but they only hint of the ~oving richness of the experiences yet to co-rne. Commencement audiences expect their speakers to talk about the bright futures ahead for the graduates and to note the challenges of the days and years ahead. They also expect their speakers to point out that today is the most exciting time in the history of mankind and that is true. Finally, commencement audiences expect their speakers to urge the graduates to put aside the concerns of the campus and to take their place s eagerly as full productive citizens of our society. My message tonight is intended to contain all of the above, but I want to focus my brief comments on another idea. Our Mark Twain once noted that "training is everything••• cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education." You all have received a degree of training during your college years. Some of -3­ you will take your training and move directly into the business world. Others will pursue advanced studies, hopefully to become just a little less cabbage and a little bit more cauliflower for yourself and some future employer. But whatever your plans and no matter how involved you become with the developments of your personal careers, I hope you never forget that you also have been educated and trained to fUnction as a citizen, with certain responsibilities for your own part of the framework of our society. ~ Let me expand on this thought for a moment from my own perspective. My hometown is Kingston, a little farm community in northwest Missouri. From this small-town background--I was one of nine members of the Kingston High School class--I was privileged to attend and graduate from the University of Missouri here. I now realize that this was possible largely because of the investment made by the people of Missouri over the years in building this outstanding university. Moreover, when I was here, the people of Missouri and society generally made an investment in me, just as they have with you. I feel strongly that having been given these opportunities, that I and you have an obligation to give something back--without any expectation of a monetary reward--so that those that follow will have the same or a better opportunity then was provided to us. In a sense, I have been privileged to repay a small part ot my so called debt and at the same time to meet the broader responsibility I feel as a citizen by devoting a portion of my • ~ ' .J -4­ career to the success of a very important public institution, the Fede r al Re se rve .. h bE rcailbaliLC1 ty. As many of you know, the Federal Reserve has significant assignments in public service and public policy through its responsibilities in monetary POlicY,!'in -- supervision of financial institutions,{ and in providing important services to financial institutions and the federal government. Many of you will have similar opportunities to repay the debt for your education. Perhaps some of you will even join us at the Kansas City Fed (:iliuui IilE a tsill fer eRe 1'@81'IiieiPl~ 88HMMe£eial). But whether you take this particular path or choose a business or professional career from among the hundreds of opportunitIes out there,;h hope you will consider giving back some of yourselves. It seems to me that there are several ways to acknowledge the opportunity you have been given by society to grow, mature, and ;..-­ eventually prosper. Some of you will repay it directly, some indirectly, and some will repay it only incidentally. Some of you will acknowledge this investment by putting your skills to work directly in soci al and charitable agencies, either -" a-s -e-mp-loyees or volunteers. Some of you will get involved in politics, seeking to perpetuate our political and democratic traditions. Some of you may become educators to encourage and direct the next generation. But I suspect most of you will choose to seek y our fortunes in the business worl-d, a choice that .. will give you many, many opportunities to repay society's investment in your education. Business people playa key role in our society,/ taking the risks and making the decisions that generate the goods and • .4/ -5­ services to meet the needs of the people. To the extent that the foundation of the American society rests on private enterprise • and the benefits to all of an efficient economic system, the ... American business person is truly "filling the lane on the fast 4 break H so to speak. In addition to managing businesses to deliver society's goods and services and provide good jObs( business people in every community are the community's leaders. They are the believers who stand in the c-enter of the publ ic fo r um of our society. They - are the realists who move to the front lines in defense of our institutions. They are the pragmatists who encourage change when - < it is needed because they have the training and experience to recognize poor business practices and ineffective public t - policies. At the Federal Reserve, we have seen the r ol e of the business leader come into sharp focus in recent years, a period when our public economic policies have wrestled first with inflation and more recently with the massive federal budget deficits. Many of you graduates this evening may not have a clear picture of the r avager and dist ortions. . of the in~atj ~that battered the na t ion' s economy in the mid- a nd late 1970's. But - many here do know of the record high intere st rates brought on by inflation, rates which discouraged businesses from investing and which contributed to a lengthy period of economic stagnation and two recessions in the early 1980's. When the Federal Reserve began fighting inflation in earnest nearly ~ix years_~ we did so with the support of many in the -6­ business community. Many business people who took a stand with us against inflation did so even though the payoff for them, in ?...... ,C:. ­ the form ofAstability, was perhaps years in the future. Mor e recently, with inflation running at a much more moderate level, -the Federal Reserve and business people have been united again to focus attention on anothe r econom jc problem. This problem, of course, is the massive current and prospectlve def icits in the £ederal budget. Although that is another story and another speech, suffice it to say that we in the Fed believe ... that without meaningful action to reduce these huge deficits, real interest rates in the United States will remain high. Under some circumstances, this may mean that the private sector1s share of available credit may shrink as government takes a greater - share. And combined with other inte r national imbalances, /high - interest rates likely will help keep the value of the U.s. dollar relatively high as well. Together, these forces certainly will discourage domestic investment and help move production overseas. . ,La..,.", ~ ~ For future university graduates, all this may mean fewe Q\ jobs to I , pick from. Again, thoughtful business people have been willing to take a stand with us on the budget deficits, urging continuously that these deficits be reduced or eliminated before it is too late. In my view, this is responsible citizenship and a tremendous affirmation of the \Ll!.lue of educated and committed buR.j.ness ~ le~...r.ship. In both of these battles in the economic arena that I have described, many business men and women have indeed fulfille~ -7­ their broad responsibilities to society by speaking out forthrightly on real-world issues from real-world, real dollars­ a-n-d--cents perspectives. I ,appl~ud them and commend their example to you. . In ' closing, let me speak as one involved in making public economic policy. I want to assure you that a good citizen - doesn1t necessarily r-ely on his government. Rathe r, his - government relies on him. In fact, the government is all of us. - We can and should fix it if it doesn1t serve us well. ''0 Our own Harry Truman pointed out that "No government is perfect. One of the chief virtues of a democracy," he said, "is - that its defects are always visible and under democratic pro..c esses can be pointed out and corrected." In my own view, I think the more you take part in government, the less government == .. will take part of you. Much of your freedom, your independence, your ability to make business and private decisions, depends on your awareness of the issues of public policy and your willingness to speak out. Your society expe cts no l ess of_you. To the graduates, congratulations and -- Go get lem, Tigers.

J. Roger Guffey (1985, May 16). Regional President Speech. Speeches, Federal Reserve. https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/regional_speeche_19850517_j_roger_guffey

@misc{wtfs_regional_speeche_19850517_j_roger_guffey,
  author = {J. Roger Guffey},
  title = {Regional President Speech},
  year = {1985},
  month = {May},
  howpublished = {Speeches, Federal Reserve},
  url = {https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/regional_speeche_19850517_j_roger_guffey},
  note = {Retrieved via When the Fed Speaks corpus}
}