31.   In an earlier era, he could have been dispatched on a front-office whim.

32.   In an earlier era, it was enough to have the courtroom doors open and seats available.

33.   In an earlier era, star portfolio managers, junk-bond traders, leveraged-buyout specialists, and corporate raiders were the faces of modern investing.

34.   In an earlier era of transportation, rash people were said to put the cart before the horse.

35.   In an earlier era, it was the gathering point for family members to summer parties and days by the sea.

36.   In an earlier era, the naked murder of four US civilians by a strutting dictator would have ignited a terrible American fury.

37.   In earlier eras in baseball, umpires felt they were doing a good job if no one noticed them or talked about them.

38.   In earlier eras, commentators observed that Trieste was where civilization ended and barbarism began.

39.   In earlier eras, that would have signaled the inevitable appearance of large price increases, Blinder said.

40.   In an earlier era, a new leader could expect to have several years to develop a strategy and implement it.