Posturing for the cameras

All these "deficit negotiation" sessions are focused on is allowing both sides to avoid the wrath of their respective base.  Actual results are, shall we say, optional in the mind of the denizens of the District of Corruption.

NO domestic spending cuts whatsoever.

NO material changes to entitlement spending ($25 billion/year on Medicare is pointless.)

NO other mandatory spending cuts. Anywhere.

Remember, the deal was supposed to be about $2 trillion in total - $1.2 as outlined above, and then $800 billion in "revenue increases" (tax hikes.) The deal "blew up" when Obama wanted another $400 billion in taxes. We're talking about chicken**** here folks - these "cuts" are not real, they are all "reductions in planned spending increases.

And as Vox points out (again), the government won't "default" unless is consciously chooses not to pay the interest on the debt, in favor of continuing some of the, ahem, more important programs like funding the National Endowment for the Arts.  Such a deliberate choice should result in instant unemployment for all 535 representatives and senators.

It's all hyperbole, rhetoric, smoke and mirrors.  There is no leadership, and no public demands for accountability.  Yes, I'm a pessimist.  But I'm one of the few who has a remote chance of being pleasantly surprised in all of this mess.  I'm also one of the few who's actively pondering how to survive the coming storm.