Our troubles is there's too many aristocratic princelings. Society can prosper while supporting an elite class of certain size. The troubles come when the number at the top balloon too large to support, that's where we're at.

The third-generation wealth broke competitive forces that would allow fortunes lost and newly merited to rise to influence. We supported noncompetitive cartels in entertainment, media, telecommunications, banking. Then the internet arrived and minted a whole new class of elites. Did the heirs of media and entertainment fortunes lose influence, displaced by the new merited class? Nope. They used their full power and resources to entrench themselves too. For years there were vicious legal fights between old money and new money, eventually allowing new money in too.

Upper class has turned to resolve this conflict by hollowing out the power and influence of the middle class. Put you on the ground and snuff your life before you've got an opportunity to get back up and fight back. Cement a caste system before the next innovative tech oligarchs arrive by surprise from a highschool classroom.