blue shirts

It just struck me today. Up until a couple of years ago, even last year, security in certain areas of the Financial District was remarkable. Working as I did at the commodities exchange, where (what may still be) the world's most important crude and derivative product markets is housed, I was accustomed to guys in black Kevlar suits, with dull black machine guns, and bomb sniffing dogs. Gradually, they began to appear a bit less frequently. Now, it is rare to see them.

Over on Wall, at the NYSE, they still have a visible presence of course, but it's still nowhere near as intense as it was last year.

Except in one place. There is one building -- it's not even an exchange, it's an office -- where the bouncers in cold blue Kevlar stand like sentries conquering the world. Their presence is offensive, intimidating, a half-step shy of menacing. When I realized that it was the DeutscheBank building they are arrayed in front of, I couldn't help but think of them as "blue shirts" and draw Nazi parallels.

Bearing the image of uncompromising, mechanical power, how could one fail to?