The respect only goes as far as to listen to what they have to say. We navigate our experience based on the whims of the rich so it helps to know what they are thinking, but it certainly doesn't confer much respect. Most are completely out of touch.

I trolled there, with a kernel of truth. The neutral version is that wealth is a contributor to respect that's unusually strong in the US and I do think that it goes back to Calvinism.