Closing Time
I lift my glass to the awful truth
Which you can’t reveal to the ears of youth
Except to say it isn’t worth a dime
And the whole dam place goes crazy twice
And it’s once for the Devil and it’s once for Christ
But the boss don’t like these dizzy heights
We’re busted in the blinding lights
Of closing time
Leonard Cohen
In the days of the Robber Barons like Andrew Carnegie, John Jacob Astor and John D. Rockefeller, their annual incomes were as individually outrageous as are those of today’s hired guns, the asset-grabbing CEO’s. There is a difference though. Carnegie and his like were owners. They were the guys who put together consortiums and their financial decisions were made and shaped in the image of their egos. Just as they had marble busts chiseled to outlive themselves, so they were committed to the long-term research, development and financing of their business interests; Carnegie at U.S. Steel, Astor (originally) in the fur trade and Rockefe…