Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class

I am currently reading Veblen's Theory of the Leisure class and am enjoying it greatly. His suppositions of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous waste are enlightening and quite timely in this age of SUVs during an erstwhile energy crisis. On a most rudimentary level he argues that the more wealth a culture accumulates the more there is a tendency to form a leisure class that is concerned with conspicuous consumption--that is, this class's raison d'etre is to be seen by others as successful by their overt usage and waste of consumables. This class then adds to the bottom line economics by creating an entire cottage industry (that becomes a major industry in time) of wannabes and other like-minded people. Veblen's critics are mostly concerned with his lack of footnotes and feel this work is mostly thoughtful essay rather than scholarly research.