24601, leftyg - as interesting as those interpretations are, this song was obviously written prior to the album's release, which itself was only just on the cusp of the economic downturn that we're only now deciding is a recession. I seriously doubt they had economics or politics in mind when they wrote this, though, as I said, the coincidences are interesting. Literally, the song is clearly about a newly-deposed leader. Someone who believed he was doing good, until his oppressed subjects knocked down his castle doors and threw him in a cell, to await execution. As Historybuff says, history is littered with rulers who had this happen to them (or should have had this happen to them). Figuratively, I haven't looked into it. I suspect the song is more personal than we think, though.