The Engineers and The Price System- Thorstein Veblen
 

The Guardians of the Vested Interests...have allowed their own knowledge of this sinister state of things to unseat their common sense....they have gone in for a headlong policy of clamor and repression, to cover and suppress matters of fact and to shut off discussion and deliberation. And all the while the Guardians are also feverishly at work on a mobilization of such forces as may hopefully be counted on to "keep the situation in hand."

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The Theory of Business Enterprise- Thorstein Veblen
 

Further insight from Veblen: The Last Man who knew everything (I believe that's how Mencken put it.)

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The Theory of the Leisure Class - Thorstein Veblen
 

Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure. As wealth accumulates on his hands, his own unaided effort will not avail to sufficiently put his opulence in evidence by this method. The aid of friends and competitors is therefore brought in by resorting to the giving of valuable presents and expensive feasts and entertainments.

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