wastrel

Its inhabitants are those of “there will always be an England” England: stern vicars, timid curates, lords and earls, penniless titled wastrels living on allowances from their uncles, imperious aunts, upper-crust twits.

The story of three young suburban wastrels looking for a way out of the American capitalist wasteland struck me as a luxury we can’t really afford at this hinge moment in history.

“Let’s get rid of this wastrel. He’s not worth the effort.”

As Kaplan points out — and as Jefferson knew — Virginia’s agrarian population had its share of “loafers, wastrels, alcoholics, gamblers, sexual adventurers, and abusive husbands.”

But he wants to shake the dust from the name of Getty: to show that the majority are not drug-addled wastrels but productive citizens.