I remember reading an analysis I liked from somewhere a few years ago saying that this phenomenon is because the "old money" of the 19th/early 20th century who knew where their value came from (the labor/exploitation of the working class & the third world) and how it related to class warfare and their position in it have all died out, and now all that's left are "true believer" heirs and sycophants of that old money who don't actually know where any of their surplus value comes from. To me, anyway, that may explain why everything is so much more nonsensical these days from the wealthy/ruling classes.