Eruvin 86: Torah Is Not a Commodity

Make way for the wealthy! Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi (and R. Akiva) each showed respect to those who were wealthy. And also thought they should toe the line of a standards of dress. But Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi was wealthy himself! Why all the homage to wealth? Also - the case of someone who goes away for Shabbat (or the weekend, if not Jewish) - what happens to the courtyard they left behind without participating in the eruv? Can the other carry or does the one person's absence mess with the cooperative rights to carry? Plus - the case of a cistern that crosses into two people's courtyards... What kind of separation will allow each to draw water from the respective sides of the cistern?