Alan Greenspan (born today the 6th of March 1926) is portrayed here riding the bull backwards. Though retired, his tenure as President of the US Federal Reserve continues to receive plenty of comment!

So why has the Artist mounted Greenspan backwards? I believe it is because Greenspan has publicly stated that he saw his job as reacting to the market and not trying to preempt the market. A practice which became known as “The Greenspan Put”.

Greenspan at some stage in his tenure must have asked himself the question – “Do we ever really know if a HOG CYCLE (read more) is coming or going, indeed can we even begin to predict the future?”

The answer must be NO on all counts and it should also be noted that financial markets — like all markets — are driven, amongst other things, by fashion.

Another well known financier “The Quietly Spoken One” (Osama Bin Laden) was born in Saudi Arabia on the 9th of March 1957.

The management of the fear/panic of 9/11 must rate as Greenspan’s greatest moment.