European crisis tests faith and fiction in financial markets 
Commentary: U.S. will weather worst-case Euro-debt disaster
By Lou Barnes, Friday, August 19, 2011.
Flickr image courtesy of Albertane."Volatility" is Wall Street's favorite term for losing your shirt. Volatility means down and up and down and up -- a transient emotional upset.
That's not what this is.
On July 21, the Dow set one of its highs since the "Great Recession" began, reaching 12,724. That was the same day that Europe announced its newest effort to save itself. On the next day the plan was exposed as a sham, and the Dow has since unraveled not quite 2,000 points. That is not "volatility."
In the same span, the 10-year Treasury note has fallen almost 1 percent, and almost broken 2 percent for the first time since 1950. That is not an investment. That is cash running to mattresses.
Only a minor portion of this trading traces to faltering recovery here. This is Europe.
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