Is it bad that the congressional “Supercommittee” failed to reach a budget agreement, thus triggering across-the-board cuts worth $1.2 trillion?

The automatic cuts are OK, since the alternative would probably have been no cuts - or a spending increase - which would have triggered an immediate credit downgrade to the US from the big ratings agencies, followed by a stock market crash that would have led to layoffs and 401K evaporation like the world has never seen. Frankly, you should all thank the Tea Party for at least getting the US to think seriously about fed deficit reduction. It would not have happened without their influence, because Obama finds any type of cost cutting politically inconvenient considering his liberal (and vanishing) base of support. He's a one term president, if we are lucky.