ZERO SUM GAME*

Stifel is a fair sized financial services company whose headquarters is across the street from my office building. The statue, obviously, represents the bull and bear, the endless combat of the markets. Note that neither is winning. Sometimes the overall size of the market grows and sometimes it shrinks. Maybe that's why economics is sometimes called the dismal science. The passer-by may have something to say about that.  

   * This post approved by Adam Smith.

Christmas On Wall Street?

Actually, this statue is in front of an investment company's headquarters, just across the street from my office building. The symbolic bull and bear, gaily decorated for the season, attack each other viciously. The statue seems to say that life is a zero-sum game, some win and some (most?) lose, and none of that goodwill-towards-men business. But it's worth a wreath and a red ribbon.

I just shake my head. The security guard in the lobby of our building told me she hates having to look at it all day. It upsets her.

My children, and probably me and my siblings many years ago, used the word below as a synonym for Christmas presents. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.