Over the weekend one of our favorite bloggers, EconomistMom, joined an important discussion prompted by a Stan Collender blog that called out deficit hawks for what he implies is a single-minded aim to “reduce the federal deficit at all times no matter what.”

This morning on NPR’s Morning Edition one of our board members, David Walker, discussed his new book, Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility. In addition to being on CRFB’s board and serving as a commissioner on the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform, Walker is president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

Laura Tyson, a former chair of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers, warned in a Bloomberg op-ed this morning that cutting back on fiscal stimulus too early might undermine the economic recovery, but that deficit reduction will be a necessity when the economy recovers. According to Tyson:

CRFB board member and former CBO and OMB director, Alice Rivlin, argued in Bloomberg, today, that policymakers should put a deficit-reduction plan in place in 2010.

As Rivlin explained:

John Podesta and Mike Ettlinger of the Center for American Progress have an op-ed in Financial Times today, calling for a 10 year plan to close the budget deficit.

In a blog post earlier this week, Stan Collender presented a laundry list of suggestions about how deficit hawks can be more effective. As a proud member of that group, we welcome Stan’s advice. Having reviewed the list, we were pleased to find that we already are doing everything that Stan wanted. We’re not sure who Stan is writing about, but it’s obviously not us.

Tim Penny, co-chair of the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform, was interviewed today for an hour on his home state public radio station. Saying that we're about to go over the cliff regarding the federal budget and its debt burden, Penny laid out the Commission's argument for beginning immediately to implement a plan for getting the nation's debt under control.

Earlier this year the White House created a contest for federal employees that was focused on producing real ideas that would yield monetary savings. They announced the winner, Nancy Fichtner, on saturday.

The Peterson-Pew Commission’s “Red Ink Rising” plan for American lawmakers has earned some black ink worldwide too since its release, not to mention some airtime for what CNBC called the Common Cause. There was also support in editorial pages from coast to coast.