LEGO my euro-crisis!

Kudos to Michael Cembalest, chief investment officer at J.P. Morgan, who puts Lego bricks to good use in his latest "Eye on the Market" report on global investing opportunities.

Frustrated as most of us are in assessing the motives and likely actions of key players in the eurozone crisis, Cembalest "consulted Peter Cembalest, who specializes in conceptualization of such phenomena. Peter (age 9) uses Lego Minifigures as a medium." And for me it works, at least as well as the million words on this hot topic I've read so far.

 

For a larger image of Peter's handiwork, and who the above groups are and what all those arrows mean, check out his dad's report here. Keep in mind it's Europe that Peter's depicting. While U.S. conditions are eerily similar - including the blame-game and hot potato aspects - some players in a U.S. version are missing, including Tea Party stand-in Joe the Plumber.

Michael Cembalest is not your go-to guy if you believe, as I do, that the eurozone will survive. He's a euro-bear, long skeptical that the 12-year-old eurozone project is viable. Why that's so, in his view, makes a good story, so have a look.

BTW, Cemblalest recommends for this skittish investing environment large-cap global firms, based in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Those are a fairly safe way of playing the world's growth markets, notably in Asia, without getting burned by currency devaluations. A plus is that stocks he wants you to focus on yield a lofty 5% or so, a big improvement on the less than 3% on U.S. Treasuries.

H/T: EB contributor Cynthia Martin.