  It has been known that recent microlensing results towards the bulge imply
mass densities that are surprisingly high given dynamical constraints on the
Milky Way mass distribution. We derive the maximum optical depth towards the
bulge that may be generated by axisymmetric structures in the Milky Way, and
show that observations are close to surpassing these limits. This result argues
in favor of a bar as a source of significantly enhanced microlensing. Several
of the bar models in the literature are discussed.
