The combination of signs that the economy may have begun to recover and the arrival of spring has led to the overuse of a metaphor that could use a little pruning. We’re talking about those “green shoots” (sometimes “shoots of green”) that keep showing up in policymakers’ speeches, economists’ notes and, unfortunately, reporters’ stories.

The following exchange should serve as a reminder to everyone involved that it’s all been said before, and so much better.

BENJAMIN RAND: …There is no longer any margin for inflation, it has gone as far as it can. You’ve reached your limits on taxation, dependence on foreign energy is at a point of crisis, and, from where I see it, Mr. President, the so-called Free Enterprise System could be at the breaking point.

PRESIDENT: You don’t think I should take that chance, huh?

RAND: Absolutely not.

PRESIDENT: Do you agree with Ben, Mr. Gardiner? Or do you think we can stimulate growth through temporary incentives?

CHANCE: As long as the roots are not severed, all is well and all will be well in the garden.

PRESIDENT: …In the garden?

CHANCE: That is correct. In a garden, growth has its season. There is spring and summer, but there is also fall and winter. And then spring and summer again…

PRESIDENT: …Spring and summer… Yes, I see…Fall and winter. Yes, indeed.

RAND: I think what my most insightful friend is building up to, Mr. President, is that we welcome the inevitable seasons of nature, yet we are upset by the seasons of our economy.

CHANCE: Yes. That is correct. There will be growth in the spring.

The source, of course, is Being There, the 1979 movie (based on the Jerzy Kosinski book of the same name) where Peter Sellers plays a feeble-minded gardener named Chance. Sometimes life imitates art – and we wish it didn’t.