Excerpts from budget director Peter Orszag's introduction to the Obama administration's 2011 budget:

"After a year in which we took immediate and unprecedented action to rescue the economy from the brink of a second Great Depression, the 2011 budget takes steps to jump-start job creation, strengthen the economic security of middle-class families, and make the tough choices to put our nation back on the path to fiscal sustainability.

When the president took office, the economy was on the brink of a depression. The economic crisis required that we take immediate and extraordinary steps to prevent a complete economic collapse that would have caused millions more to lose their jobs. Not all of the efforts we undertook to avoid a deeper recession were popular. Nonetheless, the president did what was right for our country's future: signing into law the Recovery Act to jump-start economic growth and taking steps to prevent the collapse of the financial system.

A year later, the economy is back from the brink — and is growing again. This 'statistical recovery,' however, is cold comfort for the millions of Americans who have lost their job. The president has therefore called for a package to spur job creation now — including small-business tax cuts, and investments in clean energy and infrastructure."

...YOU MAY LAUGH NOW