However, it is not the uncertainty parroted by the teabots.

The uncertainty is whether the entire financial system will unravel again. That uncertainty is keeping lending standards extraordinarily tight even while interest rates are at historic lows. This decoupling of the money markets from normal supply-demand dynamics is in my opinion the biggest impediment to a true restart of the global economy. The system is awash in money, but only people and entities who are solid gold credit risks have access to it. So they are able to conduct their regular business at lower cost, while everyone else sees the opportunities of a lifetime pass by with no access to credit. This is certainly going to hold back the housing recovery in the U.S. for years and will probably skew the market towards multi-family development on a permanent basis unless lending standards change. There are multiple other dimensions to the uncertainty. Will Congress stage another attack on the debt ceiling? Will the automatic spending cuts and tax increases come into effect in January? Will the Euro collapse and trigger another global financial meltdown? So there is a lot of uncertainty out there. But the idea that the threat of slight increases in taxes on high incomes, or of slightly stricter environmental and energy standards taking effect, holds back the economy from growth, is patent nonsense. Unfortunately the average person does not hear too much talk about the real uncertainties. And the level of ignorance is so high that people already seem to think 2008-09 was some kind of minor hiccup rather than what it really was: a hydrogen bomb exploded on the world economy. What is really going on is the chickens have come home to roost from 30 years of fiscal irresponsibility and at the same time it is an article of religious faith in the GOP as well as among about half of the Democrats not to honestly assess the true nature of the problem. Given that political backdrop, the idea that another financial crisis is right around the corner is not at all unfounded. And that is a big uncertainty for anyone thinking about any kind of investment.

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justitia omnibus
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"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."

---Mark Twain