Europe is back, either because of or in spite of austerity, depending on your perspective.

No one is winning the war in Washington.

And it was a tough day to be a trophy wife.

Such are the headlines on a big-news Wednesday, in which investors had to ponder foreign markets, debt ceilings and a host of other items.

As usual here in the NetNet cube, John Carney and I slug it out over the issues.

- By CNBC's Jeff Cox. Follow him @JeffCoxCNBCcom on Twitter.