The geyser of “stimulus” checks approved in March did not stimulate because the money was mostly saved or used to pay down debt. The Manhattan Institute’s Brian Riedl reports that the overall personal-savings rate soared from 8 percent to 32 percent: People are avoiding air travel and restaurants not because they are impecunious but because they are prudent. And the Wall Street Journal’s Greg Ip notes that “aggregate wages and salaries were just 0.4% lower in November than before the pandemic. Thanks to past stimulus, total income was actually 2% higher.”

If Hawley, Rubio and Graham squint, they can see a silver lining on the dark cloud of Democratic control of the Senate: Majority Leader Schumer will soon give them an opportunity to vote for $2,000 disbursements. The national debt has increased almost 40 percent in the past four years. But when congressional Republicans rediscover (the rhetoric of) frugality, as surely they will at noon Jan. 20, Biden can cite Hawley’s assurance that there “obviously” is “plenty” of money.

Until late December, the shapeshifting Graham — John McCain is my hero; no, Donald Trump, McCain’s despiser, is; stay tuned for Act 3 — had a lock on the title of most ludicrous senator. Then Hawley, auction bidder and mob inciter, pounced. Graham’s lock has been picked. Sic transit gloria mundi.