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SCOURING THE BUDGET….Barack Obama rolled out his economic team today: Tim Geithner at Treasury, Christina Romer to head up the CEA, Larry Summers to head the White House Economic Council, and Melody Barnes as chair of his domestic policy council. Ben Bernanke, of course, is already in place as Fed chief. But what about Peter Orszag? Why wasn’t he up on stage with the rest of them? Ben Smith provides a clue:

Obama’s staff won’t elaborate, but the President-Elect said just now that he’d roll out a plan to cut the federal budget tomorrow — something both presidential candidates said they’d do, but neither detailed.

“[T]o make the investments we need, we’ll have to scour our federal budget, line-by-line, and make meaningful cuts and sacrifices as well — something I’ll be discussing further tomorrow,” Obama said.

I’m not sure why Obama wants to have a whole separate rollout for this — maybe he just wants more than one day’s worth of headlines? — but obviously Orszag will be the star of that particular show. Via Taegan Goddard.

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A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

With only days left until December 31, we've raised about half of our $400,000 goal—but we need a huge surge in reader support to close the remaining gap. Whether you've given before or this is your first time, your contribution right now matters.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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