Crystal may be clear, but crystal balls, at least metaphorically, are certainly not. The late, great political columnist David Broder of The Washington Post used to run a column at the end of the year tallying up where he had guessed correctly—and where he’d missed the mark. Not many columnists have the guts to do that.

A survey taken earlier this year found that some 75 percent of more than 5,000 medical device professionals felt “very or somewhat positive” about business prospects for 2015. Those numbers are pretty much in line with the findings of the 2014 survey, conducted by our friends at The Emergo Group.

Taking a closer look at the 2015 numbers, it’s clear that domestic device makers feel better about their prospects than do counterparts in the European Union—and this was before Greece really started to tank.

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