institute forum that he didn t think any deal is within reach. i don t think there is serious talk on the hill. i don t think the supercommittee is anywhere close. reporter: the supercommittee chairman admitted frustration and said that a deal can t be reached. as i said throughout the process, i am not giving up hope until that stroke of midnight. reporter: the debate being too small or three to 4 trillion being too big is rooted in appearances. a lot of this is political posturing. reporter: mark calabria is a economist of the kato institute. not only were we in favor of this, we were in favor of more and a lot of this is election year posturing for who is for more kev set reduction. reporter: mis deficit reduction. reporter: missing the deadline would trigger large automatic domestic and defense cut. there was little appetite especially in an election year. if there was any question this problem is not going away any time soon, the treasury department a