The debt situation in Europe is a "wake-up call" for the United States to get its long-term fiscal situation under control, a top Federal Reserve official said Wednesday.

"You can get in so much trouble by borrowing too much," St Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard told Fox Business Network in an interview. "We should take that lesson to heart here in the U.S."

Bullard, a voter this year on the Fed's policy-setting committee, said he is "cautiously optimistic about the U.S. economy. "We are very close to being able to get a strong recovery going in 2011."