Wells Capital Management’s James Paulsen says he thinks we are in the midst of a “crisis-phobic culture”, and that U.S. investors are putting too much emphasis on what happens in Europe. Paulsen tells CNBC that he thinks the U.S. economy grew at a pace of about 3% in the third quarter, and that the key question moving forward will be whether the U.S. can grow at a reasonable pace — about 3% to 3.5% — going forward. “I think it’s going to,” he says, adding that if that’s the case, there’s significant upside for stocks. He says it’s possible to achieve that growth even with Europe going through its troubles. Paulsen also says he’s glad the Federal Reserve is “out of bullets”, because policymakers may now be forced to let free market capitalism do what it’s designed to do.