The chief use of servants is the evidence they afford of the master's ability to pay. - Thorstein Veblen

In the priestly life of all anthropomorphic cults the marks of a vicarious consumption of time are visible.

Leisure held the first place at the start, and came to hold a rank very much above wasteful consumption of goods... From that point onward, consumption has gained ground, until, at present, it unquestionably holds the primacy.

However widely, or equally, or "fairly", it may be distributed, no general increase of the community's wealth can make any approach to satiating this need, the ground of which is the desire of every one to excel every one else in the accumulation of goods.