A sell-off in U.S. Treasury securities is a virtual certainty and the only question is when and how, according to major Wall Street bankers. Wall Street banks are big holders of Treasury securities and could suffer large losses if there is a sell-off. Wall Street apparently believes that such a sell-off could be drastic unless fiscal discipline is imposed in a rational and measured way rather than abruptly and indiscriminately, or not all. Unfortunately, the likelihood of a lame-duck Congress getting its act together to prevent automatic deep budget cuts and tax increases from occurring in January is thought to be low (“Alarm on Wall Street Grows as ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Nears,” CNBC.com).