Obama's Banker: About That Recovery...

Citigroup, Congressional Budget Office, Office of Management and Budget — you don’t get any more insider-wonky than Peter Orszag. And he would like to take a moment today to warn you that it’s “too soon to celebrate a recovery.”

This is normally where I’d add something snarky about how folks outside the Beltway haven’t been popping many champagne corks these last few years, but I’ll demure this once.

So what does Orszag suggest we do to get back to the land of confetti and noisemakers? I hope you’re sitting down for this:

Policy makers in Washington should couple substantial upfront stimulus spending with even bigger, but delayed, deficit reduction.

Spend for real now. Unspecified cuts to follow. Scout’s honor.

Those cuts are nearly as real as the hair atop Orszag’s head.