The contrast between the collapse in global stock markets in August and their relentless rise since the start of 2012 is positively eerie. The S&P 500 has risen nine times out of 14 trading days, and is on track to have its best January since 1997. The collapse of the VIX -- the "fear index" -- from a high of 48 on Aug. 8 to 18.67 at the close yesterday is even more disorienting. The market's schizophrenia worries me. Last year was one of the most volatile years on record for U.S. markets. The S&P 500 swung around an average of 1.3% a day between April and December, more than twice its 50-year average of 0.6% before 2008. August was a month for the record books with daily swings in the S&P 500 averaging 2.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average swung back and forth 400 points four days in a row for the first time ever. Yet, much of the world's smart money is equally skeptical. Octogenarian Joseph Granville, who has been publishing the Granville Market Letter for about…