Debt panel failure? You were warned.

I wrote about this debt panel poison pill, just before they voted on the compromise debt-ceiling bill:

Republicans are given a pass on responsibility once again. By talking a good public narrative but doing nothing behind closed doors, they will effectively cut Medicare, and not take the heat for cutting Medicare. In fact, they will have the capacity to blame Democrats for not agreeing to spending cuts, that triggered the Medicare cuts.

There are a number of libertarian Republicans who, to their credit, believe all of the government is too big, including the military.  So for folks like Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann, the mandatory spending cuts in the military budget is fundamentally acceptable.

And just before Thanksgiving -- will this calamity suppress consumer spending during the holiday season?