Nobody forces you to rent from him; and why are you comparing yourself-now vs him 30-40 years later, relatively speaking? There are plenty of places in the US

Nobody forces you to rent from him; and why are you comparing yourself-now vs him 30-40 years later, relatively speaking? There are plenty of places in the US where you can buy a house now - housing in the US overall is actually cheaper than it used to be per sqft as far as I recall. Then, in 30-40 years you may too be renting out a paid-off house.