Is this uncertainty impacting the overall economic recovery in the US?

FORBES: Dodd-Frank: Where Is The Love?

While the tight wallets of the majority of the population are cause for concern, the spending of the wealthy may contribute to the overall economic recovery.

FORBES: Economy is in Crisis, Yet Luxury Brands, Tiffany's, LVHM Still Report Sales Growth

So, best to forget the hope that an overall economic recovery, if and when debt repair makes that possible, will lift the employment tide in familiar ways.

FORBES: Those Middle-Class Job Blues

Kathy Matsui of Goldman Sachs Japan, interviewed in the December 24 Nihon Keizai Shimbun, offers a scenario of a dip in the TOPIX to some 700 early in the first quarter (it ended the year at 729), followed by a rise to 800 by yearend, as the market anticipates overall economic recovery in 2013.

FORBES: Whither Japan Stocks: Goldman's Positive View for 2012

That will bring about capitalization and liquidity problems at a time when the economic recovery overall in Europe is tepid.

FORBES: Why The Euro Must Be Defended

As part of the unprecedented accountability and transparency provisions included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is charged with providing to Congress quarterly reports on the effects of the Recovery Act on overall economic activity, and on employment in particular.

WHITEHOUSE: Recovery Act Fourth Quarterly Report - Executive Summary

Several industries -- particularly the airline industry and the insurance industry -- have been hit hard by the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, and their progress will be watched closely as a guide to the overall U.S. economic and psychological recovery.

CNN: Recovery: More layoffs in the air