Peter Orszag : OMB Chief

November 25, 2008

Another day, another politial appointment by Barack Obama who contends that he will hit the ground running. READY on day ONE! I wonder whre he got that phrase? And he promises to JOLT the economy, as though it hadn’t already been jolted, shocked, stirred and shaken. So who is this new man named Peter Orszag anyway?

Obama named Peter Orszag to head the Office of Management and Budget and named Rob Nabors as deputy director. At a news conference to announce the appointments, Obama again recited a familiar campaign pledge — to go over the federal budget “line by line” to cut wasteful spending and obsolete programs. “Given the extraordinary circumstances that we find ourselves in, however, I think it is important for the American people to know we are putting together a first-class team, and that we don’t intend to stumble into the next administration. We intend to hit the ground running,” Obama said.

From day one!

Obama is starting DEEP in the red. The federal government reported a record deficit of $237.2 billion in October, which reflected only a portion of the $700 billion Congress approved last month to rescue the financial markets. The government’s red ink has been rising over the past eight years, reversing a surplus achieved during the Clinton administration. Can you say ONE TRILLION?

Leonard Burman, director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, said Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers reflect both the need for a large-scale stimulus to the economy and for fiscal restraint once the economy shows signs of improvement. “What’s good about the appointments that Obama has made is that it suggests, in ways that his campaign never did, that he really understands this,” Burman said.

The federal government’s ledger has gone from a surplus just seven years ago to facing a prospect of a $1 trillion deficit next year. Given those dire financial straits, President-elect Barack Obama said at a news conference Tuesday, “Budget reform is not an option. It’s a necessity.” But unlike his predecessor President George W. Bush, who in better economic times talked about returning to surpluses by 2012, “balanced budgets” were not in Obama’s vocabulary.

The government’s first obligation, he said, was to spark an economic recovery and put people back to work. To do that, the Democratic-led Congress is expected to have a new stimulus package, costing in the $500 billion range, ready to go when Obama takes office in January.

So what can Peter do at OMB?

Peter R. Orszag, who has not yet seen his 40th birthday, is a highly esteemed economist and was the Director of the U.S. Congressional Budget Office. Does he have enough experience to handle the job or is it that he’s too yound to know how serious things are? Time will tell.

Written by Ernie · Filed Under Election News