Courtesy of Tyler Durden
The man singlehandedly responsible for the smallest, "biggest inconsistency" in US budgetary history (that whole $6.3 billion in GSE’s left off the US balance sheet, for the full post read "Obama’s budget has one small, missing piece… For $6.3 trillion"), Peter Orzsag, currently head of Obama’ budget office and previously head of the Congressional Budget Office, and also responsible for the most ridiculous budget in US history (what is the most recent 2020 projected deficit: $100 trillion? $100 quadrillion? does anyone even care?) is out. Bloomberg reports: "White House Budget Director Peter Orszag plans to leave President Barack Obama’s Cabinet in July, before the White House begins preparing its next budget, administration officials said." This is arguably the biggest slap in the face of the administration’s failed budgetary efforts: the rats are now openly jumping ship, knowing full well that the US will soon be ($20 billion in debt) underwater.
Orszag, 41, considered leaving his post as director of the Office of Management and Budget in April and stayed on after an appeal from the president, the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. Orszag’s decision to leave this summer will accelerate the process of picking a successor.
Orszag’s spokesman declined to comment directly on his plans. “Peter’s focused on his work, not on Washington speculation,” said Kenneth Baer, the budget office’s communications director.
The departure comes as Obama is putting his focus on slicing the federal deficit, forecast to reach a record $1.6 trillion this year. The president appointed a bipartisan panel to recommend ways to cut the shortfall, and its report is due in December.
Upon leaving the administration, Orszag will likely join a think tank, said one of the administration officials.
Yup. Think Tank Sachs.
Here are the potential replacements:
Among the potential replacements under consideration are Laura Tyson, a former director of the National Economic Council under President Bill Clinton, and Rob Nabors, who served as OMB deputy director under Orszag before moving to the White House to work under Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, said one of the officials.
On the other hand, could Peter’s departure have been mandatorily "voluntary"?
Earlier this month, Orszag announced a plan to force some federal agencies to reduce their fiscal 2012 budget requests by 5 percent to help cut the deficit.
“As stewards of the American people’s tax dollars, we cannot afford to waste money on programs that do not work, that are outdated or that are duplicative of one another,” he said in a speech on June 8 at the Center for American Progress.
In other words dissent will not be tolerated comes to throwing away tens of billions. The penalty for fiscal prudence is testing the helicopter’s eject seat mechanism.
