Am I the only one fed up with all of these mixed signals? I haven't been this confused since reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez on a Percocet high.

Just look at the headlines on own our site:

US economy shrinks
Private job survey shows stronger hiring
Consumer confidence slips in January

And this is just from the last couple of days. I could go on and on. Each day's headlines seem to bring one side of the story or the other to the fore. Or both at once. And they say there's no balance in the media anymore. Hell, it's no wonder we're so collectively divided.

Seriously, though, this recovery's had more stops and starts than my wife driving a stick shift. Is this the result of wrong-headed policies, a lack of actual execution or is this—as I suspect—simply our new economic reality? I'm no classically trained economist—or even a very good home-schooled one—but is hyper-perpetual economic growth eternally sustainable?

Even China's showing signs of slowing down these days, so what hope do we have—especially since they already have most of our jobs anyway.

You hear a lot about uncertainty. And both parties share responsibility for that, whether it's Dodd-Frank (most of which remains unimplemented), the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (which has been reaffirmed repeatedly) or the media inside joke we call the fiscal cliff. No one wants to invest, do business or expand because, simply put, no one knows what's going to happen next.

But that argument only works up to a point. And I'm a little tired of hearing that, too, by the way. Nobody promised you tomorrow. We all live—and work—under clouds of uncertainty every day, but every once in while we get a silver lining.

And it's not like there aren't any certainties. In fact, do we even need MSNBC or Fox News anymore? I mean, unless it's about immigration, we know what each side's gonna say before they even say it. The talking points have become rote recitations of reductive reasoning – not to mention boring.

But as far as we're concerned, we know January brings the mandates, exchanges and a flood of new customers. That much we know. It's also a pretty safe bet the feds will change at least some of the rules as we go along. (And I can guarantee you; none of them will make it easier for you to business.)

To revisit Gabriel, he once said, “He who awaits much can expect little.” We can spend the rest of our lives waiting. Or we can get out there and make our own way. I don't expect much—at least for myself—but I know I'm sick of waiting.

Instant Insights /

Of deficits and other demons...

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