"Why does everybody start talking about systemic risk, after a crisis has already started? If we define a systemic risk event as something large enough to affect the entire global financial and economic system, then you would think that the best time for investors to be told about these terrible events is before they occur" There is a great article on Systemic risk and why these risks are not just one off comets in the sky that you dont know till you see them. Like any risk types, systemic risks affecting global countries should be managed in a systemic way, by accepting that they exist, by being able to address them as they baloon and how they can be contained. Please do read a beautiful article on Systemic Risk below. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jerrybowyer/2012/01/26/systemic-risk-is-not-event-driven-it-is-character-driven/?utm_source=allactivity&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=20120127 "Risk is not ‘event-driven’; risk is character-driven. Events are not the cause, events are the effect of our national character."