Maybe not in specific countries, but where education is free and exclusively merit based (tests every few years, test to enter college, etc. ) it does lead to ability to reaching elite status.
What people seem to refuse to accept is that democrats won't have another chance, any time soon. It's done and gone. Count one or two generations, at a minimum, under the new Epstein class regime, before people may try to rise.
If democracy in the US falls apart, it will take an event of World War 3 scale to fix this.
But thinking of it, your estimate might still hold under that premise.
As a European, I have still hopes for the US though. The western world is already reorganizing itself without the US in the center, but we and the world in general still need the US as being more of an ally than an adversary (at the moment, it's more of an adversary to the western world, sadly).
After contributing directly to the propaganda of alt-right, it's about time to make a[nother] buck with the other side, if ... just in case ... down the road ...
I thought the same, when my US bank (capital one) decided to change my debit card to their newly acquired Discover network. Sure enough, CIC and La Poste accept it for cash withdrawals, which preserves the advantage of great exchange rate, and no currency exchange fees (unlike wise, for example). Credit cards seem to stay on Mastercard (e.g. capital one) and visa (e.g. Chase), so still some life left with those, also. Wish the European solution will eventually have a rewards/points system, to bring it up to par with the US cards.
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