Supercommittee: Not Too Big To Fail

So, at least we learned one thing from the Congressional Super Committee for the Production of Political Theater. Twelve politicians does not constitute a too big to fail organization. (HT to Fay for that line) If the Wall Street Journal is to be believed, the stock market sold off because a bipartisan committee of committed partisans failed to reach agreement on how to reduce the budget deficit. Really? Were there actually sentient beings who expected this group of political hacks to agree to anything that compromised the production of campaign slogans? Supposedly, the committee’s actual admission of their expected failure could trigger a ratings agency downgrade and that’s why investors were tossing out stocks like used kitty litter. Are there really people who trade on such things?