"the businessmen who own everything have employed themselves in the economically unproductive practices of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure, which are useless activities that contribute neither to the economy nor to the material production of useful goods and services. Instead, the middle and working classes support the whole of society"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_the_Leisure_Class
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#Veblen #economics #HistoryOfEconomicThought #inequality #y1899