Lindsey Graham Steps Up (Am I in a parallel debt ceiling universe???)

http://www.fitsnews.com/2011/07/21/lindsey-graham-steps-up/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitte ^ | 7/21 | fitnews

[RummyChick]

At a closed door meeting of U.S. Senators and limited government advocates in Washington, D.C. earlier this week, there was an unlikely attendee … and an unlikely champion for the adoption of an uncompromising position on the ongoing debt ceiling debate.

His name? Lindsey Graham.

“He was the most aggressive voice in the room,” one of the meeting’s attendees told FITS.

Wait … Lindsey Graham? The most liberal Republican in Washington, D.C.? The “third Senator from New York?”

That’s right … for the time being, Graham isn’t focused on his prior collaboration with U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) on energy tax hikes. Nor is he spending much time working on amnesty legislation with U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York).

Instead, Graham is meeting regularly with Tea Party leaders like U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) – urging them to stand their ground against raising the debt ceiling from $14.3 to $16.7 trillion without concessions.

While our sources declined to elaborate on the specific debt ceiling strategy that Graham advocated at this meeting, they said that he gave an impassioned speech that in no uncertain terms recommended calling U.S. President Barack Obama’s bluff.

“Jaws were on the floor,” one of the meeting’s attendees told FITS.

[Principled]

What’s going on?

[mrsmith]

“He is going to be on Hannity tonight to discuss it.”

Yeah, he doesn’t think it has a chance- rooting for it will give him cover when he jumps for a “bipartisan compromise”.

Meanwhile he’ll milk it for all the conservative color he can get.

Gosh, look at how many Freepers are missing the Kabuki aspect of this.... probably just haven’t had their ration of coffee yet... still groggy!

[Eagle of Liberty]

Rush said something like all he needed to know was who was for the Gang of Six and that Demint was against it. He knew it wouldn’t pass.

I know this link is from NPR, but some interesting info:

What Happens If U.S. Bond Ratings Are Downgraded?

If the credit rating agencies downgraded the U.S., what would be the immediate impact?

Truman: If there is a default in some form, there would be a tendency for interest costs and credit costs and other costs of the government doing business to rise. In some sense, the credit rating agencies' downgrade would just be a reflection of that. It also raises some questions about the quality of the credit going forward, even if the situation is cured.

Dago: The general impact would be negative for the U.S., which has enjoyed a AAA bond rating from Standard & Poor's for 70 years. We would see an increase in the yields and thus an increase in the borrowing costs throughout the markets. There would be a lot of volatility and uncertainty, but the general movement of yields would be up.

Weisbrot: I'm not sure it would have any impact. When you look at the bond market 10-year U.S. treasuries, for example where is it today? In the light of all this hype about debt ceilings and possible defaults, it's at 2.93 today, so this is an extremely low interest rate in both nominal and real terms. It means that everyone in the world is willing to hold these bonds and is not the least bit worried about the possibility of a default. So, investors haven't changed their view of the creditworthiness of the United States at all, and I don't think they're likely to in the foreseeable future.

Specifically, how would it affect Wall Street and global markets?

Dago: There would be a big psychological impact in the sense that the U.S. has generally been considered a safe haven for investors, and if the traditional safe haven suddenly decides that it is unable to finance its debt, it would have dramatic consequences not only in the U.S., but also in the global markets.

Weisbrot: Well, you never know. Markets can be irrational. It's like what [John Maynard] Keynes said they're looking at what other investors might think, instead of what they themselves think. And they might think other investors are really stupid and actually believe that there's some reason to think that the United States could default on its debt. With that proviso, I think you're much more likely to see what you're seeing now, which is that the bond markets are completely ignoring all of this discussion - as they should because the probability of a default on the U.S. debt has not increased from where it was two years, five years, 10 years or 50 years ago.

Truman: It's very unpredictable what would happen, but I'm confident it would not be good, just because the complexities of doing business would be increased. So, they will say 'if the United States can default on its debt, any country can default on its debt.' Therefore, the cost of borrowing for Canada, Japan, as well as Thailand and Mexico goes up. But one needs to distinguish between what is a technical thing - if the Treasury can't get its checks out on Aug. 2 or 3, but the problem is fixed by Aug. 4, well, that probably will be nothing. It will have a lingering effect on the markets, but I think it will be largely nothing in terms of the overall U.S. and global financial system.

In the case of a downgrade, what would it take to recover a AAA rating from the agencies and how soon could that happen?

Truman: It could happen very quickly, especially if it was only a technical matter. But if the Congress and the administration just kick the ball down the road and don't do anything about our medium-term fiscal situation, then that would also have implications for the long-term credit rating of the United States.

Weisbrot: You'd have to ask the credit rating agencies on that, because what they are doing doesn't really make sense from an economic point of view. So, it's really a question of their politics. They're intervening in a political sense. They are intervening in the debate, politically.

Dago: I personally think a downgrade would be temporary and very short term. The reason for that is that if, unfortunately, we go beyond this debt-ceiling limit, there will be tremendous pressure on politicians from both sides of the aisle to increase the debt ceiling once we've reached it. So, I think as soon as we've raised that debt ceiling, the credit rating agencies would revert back to a AAA bond rating.

Why should we even care what the credit rating agencies have to say considering how wrong they have proven to be in the recent past?

Weisbrot: It's clear they are not a reliable source of information. These are the same credit rating agencies that gave AAA ratings to mortgage-backed securities that turned out to be almost worthless in some cases and enormously overrated in other cases. They were as wrong as you could possibly be and wrong in a way that anybody who could do arithmetic could see was wrong at the time. So, why should we take them seriously?

Dago: Credit rating agencies are the benchmark in terms of the relative risk of specific sovereign bonds.

Truman: (laughs) You see this more in Europe than in the United States. They criticize the credit ratings. Every time Greece is downgraded, Ireland is downgraded or Portugal is downgraded, officials come out and say 'they don't know what they're doing, there ought to be some rule that you can't downgrade a country in the middle of an international support program. On the other hand, they turn around and say 'we only accept as collateral assets of a certain quality.' The fact that they're cursing the credit rating agencies on the one hand and then kowing to them on the other hand would be amusing if it weren't so serious.

[Eva]

Isn’t Graham from South Carolina, the target of the Obama administration union battle over Boeing???

Oh, Obama is targeting South Carolina in other ways, as well.

Patty Murray has Obama’s third stimulus bill sitting in committee, waiting for the debt ceiling to be raised and spending green lighted once again. The bill (S, 942) is an grant for transportation (rail/port projects) called “Gateways”. South Carolina happens to have one of these Gateways, but all it lacks is funding for dredging the port. Graham has been working on getting this funding for about three years. Patty Murray’s bill specifically denies money for dredging.

Graham is spitting mad.

[houeto]

Wow! Thanks for posting. That was pretty amazing.

[Brookhaven]

Maybe Graham has realized what everyone reading this has known for a month: the VAST majority of Americans want to take the tough approach.

Polls (real polls, not the spin ones) show nearly 70% of Americans don’t want to raise the debt ceiling. Even a majority of self-identified Democrats don’t want to raise it.

The one thing RINO’s have in common is they are “sensitive” about swing voters (aka moderates). It looks like the message has finally gotten through to the RINOs, even the moderates want to go the tough love route.

[liberalh8ter]

Now is the time to insist on a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution

And there it is. Graham's taking this stance in hopes it will open up the Constitution for the compete raping and pillaging that liberals have been salivating for.

[Hieronymus]

“The third Senator from New York.” Well, I’m glad to know who now holds Bob Packwood’s old seat. A fitting successor.

[Matchett-PI]

Let’s not forget that it was Lindsey Graham who double-crossed us when we impeached Clinton. He’s the main culprit who stood in the way of removing him from office after pretending to be on our side all the way. This didn’t come out until months after the fact, long after we “honored” him at the House Managers’ Dinner in DC).

I wouldn’t trust him (or any of the other “ruling class” RINOS), any farther than I could throw him. He and McCain both are snakes.

[Matchett-PI]

You got that right!!! bttt

[ckilmer]

[RummyChick]

http://twitter.com/#!/RoyBlunt

RoyBlunt Senator Roy Blunt
Joining @SenMikeLee @SenJohnThune @SenAlexander @OrrinHatch @SenRandPaul @SenRonJohnson + others for press conference on #CutCapBalance Act.

[RummyChick]

Sahil_Kapur Sahil Kapur
Lindsey Graham to senators against a BBA: “Don’t become the enemy of the American people.”

[Matchett-PI]

It must have to do with what Rush is talking about right now.

I suspect it has to do with the report hitting the wires that the House speaker has called a meeting with the House in the morning at 9 AM which has to do with a “Grnd Bargain” deal he reportedly has cut with Obama. He plans to try and sell it to the House in the morning.

They may be trying to head him off at the pass. We all need to get on the phone. And while we’re at it, we need to demand that the House leadership take a stand backing Allen West. The Left has decided to target him for take-down over his comments to the woman heading up the DNC.

[Waryone]

You’ve hit it. Just like he did with Clinton’s impeachment, Graham will show up looking like the strongest advocate out there. But when it’s time to make the real push, he always finds a way to sabotage things.

The dems and elites must really be serious about bankrupting this country if they’ve decided to employ the stealth Lindsey bomb.

[Waryone]

Thank you for posting that. I’m glad I’m not the only one who remembers Pansy’s backstabbing ways. It did not take long to figure out he was a traitor back then. He was the one responsible for having the strongest charge against Clinton removed. I never trusted him after that and was very disappointed when SC elected him to the Senate.

Needless to say, I really don’t trust anything he does today.

[Eva]

I never heard about Graham betraying us during the impeachment. I was always thinking that he had done an abrupt about face.

What exactly happened?

[Syncro]

Thanks for the straight talk, Matchett.

Excellent points to keep in mind.

Graham is as sneaky and slimy as a liberal democrat.