augustus

No, they wouldn't. E.g., if a renter in Los Angeles County in 2004 invested in the S&P 500 the equivalent 20% down payment of someone who bought the median house ($400K in 2004), i.e. invested about $80K in stocks, and invested the savings from renting each year (which was lower than the cost of owning) over the next 20 years, the renter in 2024 would have about $829K in his stock portfolio while the homeowner would have only $700K in equity (assuming a 30 year mortgage).

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If the provider is somebody you are paying, he is not your friend. You may be on friendly terms, but that is likely where it stops. Confusing a friendly provider for a friend is likely to get your feelings hurt. 
 
Most providers dont ask for orientation, so getting a reliable answer here is doubtful.

A lot of guys will claim to be straight because they are reluctant to admit to themselves that they might be otherwise.  

Nope if someone is hiring me a man to have sex with them they are not straight. Are some of them married with kids sure. But they are bi. Or at the very least heteroflexible. Class repeat after me… if you have sex with a man and you are a man you are not straight. 

Please report and move if this belongs to another forum or was talked about before in a different thread.
OP note: about time for fast food to be what's supposed to be. 
Five Guys Introduces Classic Combo at Select Locations | Five Guys
WWW.FIVEGUYS.COM Don't let your burger get lonely by bundling it with fries and a drink – all for $12.99. Subway Launches New 2 for $12.99 Footlong Deal - The Fast Food Post
WWW.FASTFOODPOST.COM Subway is running a new digital-only deal where they’re offering a choice of any two Footlongs for $12.99. To take advantage of the offer, simply head to the Subway app...  

While I’m slow-traveling, I’ve been keeping up with the situation back home.  Yes, Las Vegas survived downturns like the Great Depression (then a small town, it actually boomed thanks to the Hoover Dam construction) and the 2008 GFC, but this downturn is all of its own making.
The appeal of old Vegas was that middle-class tourists could come and feel like VIPs.  Sure, you lost money gambling, but pit bosses were generous with the comps.  Even when Steve Wynn changed the business model with 1989 opening of the Mirage, visitors still felt like they were getting decent value.  Restaurants were pricey, but most were really good.  Comped or at least discounted rooms were common, and free drinks were a given.
First came the resort fees, which started small and have been climbing ever since.  IMO, the snowball started rolling down the hill when the casinos ended free parking.  The old-timers said tourists would boycott, but nope they kept coming, just grumbled a bit.  That gave the bean-counters the green light to start death by a thousand cuts, nickel $ dimeing visitors with service charges at every turn and even charging a high-roller ($25K a hand!) for a $10 smoothie.
Of course, the high-rollers (refusal to comp the smoothie aside) are still treated like royalty, as are high-end business travelers, but according to numerous reports, the average Vegas visitor is treated like sh!t.  For a while, the top-tier spending more than made up for the loss of the nurse from San Antonio and the plumber from Chicago, until the desertion of the middle-class became so great that there simply weren’t enough 1 percenters to offset.
I’ve heard that the casinos are realizing their error and are trying to lure back the middle-class they so recently scorned.  Unfortunately, once you really piss off a regular customer, it’s just not that easy to get him back.

Agree it will survive the downturn. The question is whether the hotel/casinos will survive their ridiculous resort fees, high drink prices, high food prices, high...

the city has gone thru many booms and busts since its original founding in 1905......it'll survive this downturn.......