This article basically says that having a wealthy non-working elite is bad. However, I&#x27;m not so sure. This non-working elite won&#x27;t simply sit staring into a wall all day. Aren&#x27;t many of them likely to get into cultural and artistic stuff?<p>Take language, for example. I think it&#x27;s interesting to look at French. Seems like the guttural r became common after the French revolution. Why would anybody use that sound for communication? It&#x27;s basically the same sound that you make when trying to get rid of slime from your throat. I can imagine that French used to be a really beautiful language, back in the day when France had an aristocratic elite. Seems like the French working class has basically ruined it. Or is this just a coincidence?<p>The English language in the USA has not suffered as badly. But I find it interesting that Americans put more weight on the r sound than the British. I&#x27;ve come across people who like the guttural r because they say it makes them sound more &quot;authoritative&quot;. I guess people who have poor self-esteem often compensate with brand-name clothing and other status symbols. Maybe they compensate with language, too? Other than that, a non-working elite will have much more time to develop a refined taste, which in the case of language, is something that everyone will benefit from (assuming everybody else ape this elite).<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Guttural_R#French" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Guttural_R#French</a>