I’ve been traveling a lot overseas recently and I have noticed that there is a much more noted class distinction outside the U.S.

I recently flew business class and made two stops in Europe, three stops in the Middle East, and one back to San Francisco. In every other place except SFO, the economy class people were forced to wait until all us business class people debarked the plane. But in SFO, the flight attendant (who was Dutch — I was flying KLM) made the point of letting all the passengers debark at the same time. The only advantage I had as a business class person was that I was closer to the door.

Is Europe and the Middle East much more class conscious than the U.S.?

I dare say yes. These societies have a much more rooted history of nobles, sheiks, and other people who got where hey are today because of their birthright rather then their ability. I find people outside tend to respect class much more. But go to NY and no one will let a billionaire cut them in line (“Kiss my ass Bill Gates!”)….