Their summer issue makes the point that the European financial crisis is “the most over-examined debacle in financial history . . . which, by the way, has not occurred despite the months-long, 24-7 prattle of talking heads.”  They go on to a comparison of the gloom during the Great Depression and finally conclude that “Uncertainty has been and remains the issue.”

I agree that uncertainty is the issue, and I agree that the European financial crisis is over-examined, but not without reason.  It is a financial crisis, not a recession, and is easily transmitted in the globalized world of finance.  It has the possibility of being a “black swan” event or a sudden, disastrous event!  It is THE major cause of the uncertainty, even more so than the Fiscal Cliff, and it should not be trivialized.

While I disagree on how worrisome Europe might be, I do agree with their clear reminders that the world will not end, that stocks will out-perform bonds over the long-run, and that America still has many more advantages than politicians or pundits ever mention.