This is one of the most prescient songs written about the 'trickle down' economic policies of the 1980s in the United States (Reaganomics) and the United Kingdom (Thatcherism.) The song was released in 1986 by a citizen of Britain. As a high school economics and history teacher I tell my students (without judgement) that one way of looking at the economic policies of the 1980s is 'short term gain for long term pain' in regards to the tax cuts that mostly went to the wealthiest and the regulatory cuts that were aimed at protecting the environment and worker health and safety. Drawn by the promise of the women and the lace And the gold and the cotton and pearls is a reference to the short term gains for the wealthiest, but Wallinger warns them "You will pay tomorrow" "Using all the good people for your galley slaves" is a reference to how the gains taken by the wealthiest in the 1980s came at the expense of the poor. "Avarice and greed are gonna drive you over the endless sea" is a reference to the environmental degradation, and how it will backfire on the wealthiest and the non wealthy people in the 1980s who also supported these economic policies. I don't know if the 80s economic policies have rebounded on the wealthiest, but certainly more and more people seem to look at the policies people voted for in the 1980s saying 'what were they thinking?' For anybody who disagrees with this interpretation of the song, Karl Wallinger has said he was referring to Thatcherism and Reaganomics. "