Trying to make sense of the fiscal hokum Sen. Richard Burr pitched to an approving — giddy even — Rob Christensen the other day? Look no further than Rep. Barney Frank.

Burr is responding to a move by Frank and the Beltway Dems to scare Chamber of Commerce types away from “radicals” like Jim DeMint and the Tea Party folks. And it all comes down to rent-seeking corporatists and their bribes campaign donations, as Frank makes explicit:

There are obviously divisions in the GOP among the leaders and the people pursuing their dumb notions of linking [cuts] to the debt vote.

In the end, the Republicans are not going to be able to withstand the pressure from the business community, the guys who finance their campaigns. … In the end, they have to do this.

Accordingly, Burr declares the North Carolina is in great shape because it spends so very much of its state budget on the things that businesses like. Except for the fact that the state is a couple hundred thousand jobs short of pre-recession highs.