If You Want to Shrink the Economy, Don't Be Surprised When Markets React

I've been trying to spend the day reading up about what in the world is going on with the markets and with the economy. Today was the worst day for stocks since 2008 after losing 634 points; or roughly 5.5%.  Yet the bond market is doing just the opposite.

As best as I can tell, the credit downgrade brought jitters to the market.  But investors still realize our credit is excellent which is why the bond market held steady.  I have a feeling the market adjustments were coming with or without the credit downgrade.  Simply speaking, all the focus on downsizing federal spending is essentially the same thing as a focus on shrinking the U.S. economy.  That is, of course, the opposite of what you want to do when in a recovery, if we even still call it that.