Stock markets have fallen sharply since their recent peaks on November 9, 2010.  The table below shows that from Nov 9 to Nov 23, 2010, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai fell by between 5 to 10% while the Dow shed 2.2%.   Many wire services have attributed these declines to Ireland's debt woes and concerns that it wll sprea to the remaining PIGS (Portugal and Spain).  I have some Irish blood but notwithstanding this I dont believe that the Irish debt issue is any cause for concern. The chart below of the VIX clearly shows what happened when the 2008 Global Crisis started - the VIX shot up to 70-80, then earlier this year when the PIGS and in particular Greece had debt woes, the VIX shot up to 40-50.  But with the recent Irish debt woes, the VIX only rose to 25 and then fell ......