Compare the old industrialist families of the late 19th and early 20th centuries to the finance/high-tech "masters of the universe" of this century.
The Rockefellers, the Astors, etc funded public parks, museums, and libraries for the public benefit. Silicon Valley venture capitalists just charter helicopters for themselves when BART is shut down; screw the proles.
Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, William Marsh Rice and others started universities that would educate thousands of students and produce research that benefited the country and the world. Peter Thiel would rather pay people not to go to college.
There is a difference between the attitude that wealth is something requiring stewardship and intergenerational social obligations (both to one's family and to society as a whole) and the attitude that wealth is the spoils of a Darwinian death match and proof that you are a "winner" who is 100% responsible for your success and the "losers" in their tract houses with the underwater mortgages are completely to blame for their failure not to enter the ranks of the One Percent and deserve nothing from you.
The old industrial families you mention were called Robber Barons for a reason. Absolutely ruthless men who created monopolies in their industries that would make ExxonMobil or Comcast execs blush. They controlled both political parties to a great extent, and certainly hated the organized labor movement. But I guess their paternalism, which was-as much as anything else-motivated by a Conservative desire for social stability, influence, prestige, and personal legacies, makes up for their destructive business practices.
Also, it's worth mentioning that Social Darwinism and eugenics, among other wonderful theories, were very popular among "Old Money" polite society.
