Why Rich People Aren't Like Kings of Old

They panicked about communism in the 1930s and decided to mothball their top hats and mink coats. The help became "off campus" contractors without a uniform. The RSVP balls became charity events.

Basically, they have everything they used to have, except their conspicuousness. Why be a target?

One big change, though, is that the big universities have shifted from being rich kid daycare centers to being siphons for high test scorers. This has upset the applecart more than the old money crowd particularly like. 

There are many technocratic rich people now, with hippie pretensions, since they weren't in college for plush daycare service and beer drinking. There's an essential tension between the new elite, trying to adorn itself with token of being "down to earth," and the old elite, which mostly flies under the radar and maintains old traditions as best it can.