Last month, the U.S. Chamber sent a letter to Congress, endorsing Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s Aug. 2 deadline. “Failure to raise the debt by that time would create uncertainty and fear, and threaten the credit rating of the United States,” the letter written by the Chamber’s lead lobbyist said.

Spending reforms are needed, the Chamber agreed. Just don’t monkey with the debt ceiling.

An email from Tea Party Patriots, which arrived as I was writing the above, likened predictions of economic disaster to the lies of a heroin addict deprived of his drug. Any convulsions that result can be attributed to the necessary pains of withdrawal, they argue.

The point is, many Republicans are perfectly willing to chance such convulsions. Possibly because we’ve been through so many convulsions over the last three years — and survived.

You could write off such sentiment as a product of the traditional gulf that separates elite, country-club Republicans from the rest of the GOP, a populist reaction to the demands of Big Business. But in Georgia, the passage of HB 87 belies that.

Our Republican-controlled Legislature insisted that a crackdown on illegal immigration in Georgia was a political necessity. No doubt something was required. And with two weeks to go before it takes effect, the measure is already an unqualified success — just in time for the early summer harvests of fruits and vegetables.

Illegal immigrants, conservative in their own way, have decided that Georgia isn’t worth the risk. A quick, admittedly cursory study by the Department of Agriculture declared 11,000 “employment opportunities” available in a state with 9 percent unemployment.

“[I] lost squash because it has to be picked every other day, but without enough people to pick it, all the crop was missed,” reported Fred Paulk of A&C Produce in his testimony to investigators.

I have never talked to Paulk. My suspicion is that he would not describe himself as a member of Big Business.

Most farmers I have talked to understand — perhaps better than anyone — that the U.S. immigration system is broken. What bothered them was the Legislature’s disregard for the economic consequences. Lawmakers were content to let chips fall where they may.