@FistedFoucault During WW2, before Operation Husky, educated, officer-class Italian-Americans who could speak the Sicilian dialect were worth their weight in gold.
@whitey_xyz Technically right, but a house is still an effective hedge against inflation. Rents are out of your control. Owning removes that uncertainty, though there's still maintenance, insurance, and taxes.
@wil_da_beast630 I don't know if they stole in the old fashioned sense of stuffing ballot boxes, but the system is set up to stifle any sort of insurgent campaign of the type that Pratt ran. Without a party machine collecting these ballots, it's very tough to compete.
@ItsRobbAllen Same here. I got serious in 2005, so I built up fairly well, but I still kick myself for not knuckling down a decade earlier. Even after 2005, I could have done much, much better. Certainly avoided excessive car payments.
@Rianstone Starbucks got going in the 90s. Believe me, Boomers and Xers were all over it. There's a reason Dr. Evil used Starbucks as his cover in the Austin Powers sequel.