{"id":31968,"date":"2012-12-30T14:54:01","date_gmt":"2012-12-30T21:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/30\/lindsay-graham-swears-to-hide-the-check-book-until-he-gets-his-way.html"},"modified":"2012-12-30T14:54:01","modified_gmt":"2012-12-30T21:54:01","slug":"lindsay-graham-swears-to-hide-the-check-book-until-he-gets-his-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/30\/lindsay-graham-swears-to-hide-the-check-book-until-he-gets-his-way.html","title":{"rendered":"Lindsay Graham swears to hide the check book until he gets his way"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time, the debt ceiling was a book-keeping measure alone. The law limits how much the federal government can actually spend to meet obligations already authorized by Congress.<\/i> \u00a0Yes, read that again. This is not about going on a spending spree, but about paying the bills.<\/i> \u00a0<\/p>\n

But the GOP has gotten into its head that anything, anything<\/i> it can do to get its way in Congress is not only legitimate but a political<\/s> moral imperative. Last time down this road, the GOP shenanigans damaged the credit rating of the United States (with little wonder — if there was a credible threat that someone would stop paying for stuff they'd already agreed to pay, you'd lower their credit rating, too).<\/p>\n

And this time\u00a0we have Lindsay Graham (R-SC) swearing\u00a0he will block the debt ceiling increase unless<\/i> poor people aren't "allowed" to retire on Social Security as soon, retirees' SSI payments don't get to keep up with the cost of living, and, yeah, maybe we'll not give Social Security to as many rich people.<\/p>\n

If he were a six-year-old who hid Mommy's check book until he got to watch what he wants on TV, he'd be facing a tanned backside. Instead, he gets appearances on Fox News and, in all likelihood, a re-election next time he's up.<\/p>\n

\n

Embedded Link<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLindsay Graham: I Will Destroy America\u2019s Solvency Unless The Social Security Retirement Age Is Raised<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlthough official Washington is currently fixated on the so-called \u201cFiscal Cliff,\u201d the biggest threat to American prosperity is the debt ceiling, which must be raised in February to prevent economic c…\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Google+:<\/strong> View post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time, the debt ceiling was a book-keeping measure alone. The law limits how much the federal government can actually spend to meet obligations already authorized by Congress. \u00a0Yes, read that again. This is not about going on a spending spree, but about paying the bills. \u00a0 But the GOP has gotten into … Continue reading “Lindsay Graham swears to hide the check book until he gets his way”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32045,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/01\/03\/the-debt-limit-negotiations-arent-negotiations.html","url_meta":{"origin":31968,"position":0},"title":"The Debt Limit negotiations … aren't negotiations","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 3-Jan-13 11:07pm","format":false,"excerpt":"As Greg Sargent explains, the GOP already admits that not raising the debt limit -- which allows the government to pay the bills Congress has already authorized -- that the country will be seriously damaged financially and see its credit rating dropped (again).So if they recognize that -- on what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32202,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/01\/14\/paying-our-debts.html","url_meta":{"origin":31968,"position":1},"title":"Paying our debts","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 14-Jan-13 8:28pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Tell me again why the GOP thinks they can negotiate \"substantial spending and entitlement cuts\" in exchange for a debt ceiling raise? \u00a0_Congress already approved the spending of that money._ \u00a0If they want to cut spending and entitlements, then do so in a straightforward fashion, not by demanding give-backs.It's like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21994,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/05\/unblogged-bits-fri-5-aug-11-1130.html","url_meta":{"origin":31968,"position":2},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Fri. 5-Aug-11 1130)","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 5-Aug-11 11:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Panetta Can\u2019t Explain Why Defense Cuts Would Be \u2018Dangerous\u2019 | ThinkProgress Moody\u2019s Downgrades US Credit Rating to \u201cIt\u2019s Complicated\u201d \u00ab Borowitz Report Pod Cars, Moving Silently at Heathrow's Terminal 5 - NYTimes.com - Cool\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39000,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/03\/its-not-crashing-through-the-guard-rail-that-kills-you.html","url_meta":{"origin":31968,"position":3},"title":"It's not crashing through the guard rail that kills you","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 3-Oct-13 11:22am","format":false,"excerpt":".... it's hitting the ground below.Which is another way to say that the government shutdown (no, Fox, not \"slimdown\") is, in fact, bad, but playing chicken with the debt limit is the point where the Coyote (or the US, or the World Economy) goes \"boom\" in a cloud of dust.The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38816,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/26\/on-compromise-and-the-debt-ceiling.html","url_meta":{"origin":31968,"position":4},"title":"On "compromise" and the debt ceiling","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 26-Sep-13 11:43am","format":false,"excerpt":"What caught my eye here was that the debt ceiling \"compromise\" \u00a0the House GOP is proposing isn't even just \"We must end the EVIL OBAMACARE at all costs,\" but an amazing laundry list of GOP fantasies:'...\u00a0what Republicans want in exchange for agreeing to not default on the national debt is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32193,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/01\/14\/one-coin-not-to-rule-them-all.html","url_meta":{"origin":31968,"position":5},"title":"One Coin NOT To Rule Them All","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 14-Jan-13 2:14pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So the Obama Administration has ruled out -- again -- some gimmicky trillion dollar coin trick to get past the debt ceiling. \u00a0Which is, perhaps, a bit of playing chicken, but does put the responsibility for the nation defaulting on debts that Congress has already approved in legislation back on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}