Pre-Ramble: While researching the recent consumer credit crisis, I came across this photo of the Charging Bull (also called the Wall Street Bull or the Bowling Green Bull), a 7,000 pound bronze sculpture by Arturo Di Modica that is installed in Bowling Green park near Wall Street in New York City. An imposing sort of fellow, the Charging Bull has come to represent the upswing phase of the business cycle (a “bull market”), symbolizing “aggressive financial optimism and prosperity.” 

According to the historians at wikipedia, Arturo created the sculpture following the 1987 stock market crash as a symbol of the “strength and power of the American people.”  Intended as an “act of guerrilla art,” the sculpture was transported to lower Manhattan and installed, with no permit or permission, in front of the NY Stock Exchange building as a Christmas present to the people of New York. Police “seized the sculpture and placed it in an impound lot, until intense public outcry led authorities to release it and install it two blocks south of the Exchange in the plaza at Bowling Green park.”

Hmmmm … really?  A bold symbol of financial optimism and prosperity? Upon closer scrutiny, and in light of our current precarious financial scenario, I’m wondering if we have misinterpreted the Bull’s feisty stance. Note the crouched position around the left front shoulder and the stabilizing effect of the extended right front hoof. Is this the posture of ”aggressive strength and power,” or is it the bronzed interpretation of a torn rotator cuff? Is the great horned head lowered in defiance, or wincing in agony? Is he reared back on his haunches ready to pounce? Or, is he rocking back on his heels ready to fall over? Maybe all of the raucous, unchecked economic growth of the past two decades has finally caught up to this blustery beast.

He definitely looks peeved. Perhaps our Charging Bull is actually staggering in shock as he sees the extent to which his personal wealth has declined in value. Or worse, the “charging” moniker does not refer to swift forward motion at all, but rather the wholesale act of purchasing on credit. Has the mighty Bull maxed out his Mastercard? Does his broken demeanor reflect the crippling effects of big time debt that has befallen so many of us??

The Take-Away:  What if, as in some fantastical piece of fiction, or giant audacious mood ring, the position of the Charging Bull actually corresponds to the prevailing economic situation?  Has anybody been monitoring this creature?  Time-lapse photography would be telling. He appears to be leaning to the left … coincidence? If he starts doing a celebration-in-the-end-zone kind of thing, we may have cause for optimism … Intensive tap-dancing – not so much. If he rolls over on his back, we’re probably in for some trouble.

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