Of the many reasons that investors have a tendency to struggle with an interpretation of the VIX, one of the most obvious is an issue of orientation: for the most part, the VIX moves in the opposite direction of stocks. Frankly, it is difficult to appreciate some of the nuances of an upside-down world unless you spend a lot of time hanging upside down looking out at the world, like a bat.

Just one week after Democrats and Republicans cobbled together a last-minute fiscal cliff deal, investors turned their focus to the next battleground in the fiscal crisis, tabbing the U.S. deficit and debt ceiling as their #1 concern in the VIX and More weekly fear poll.

The fiscal cliff is behind us, stocks have rallied and a VIX in the 13s must mean that there is nothing to worry about, right? I have a hunch that readers might feel otherwise, which is why I am continuing with this poll. I have removed the fiscal cliff from the list of pre-selected answers, but feel free to write it in (or write in anything else for that matter) when you consider what your concerns are about the future. Make your voice heard regarding the #1 threat to stocks in the fear poll below and check back in on Monday when I publish the results and offer some commentary.

For anyone who pays attention to the VIX exchange-traded products space, 2012 was the year of the inverse (short) VIX futures ETP.