Throwaway because I fear for my personal safety and life. > Having those opportunities available for you is what makes one "lucky". Only a small percentage of

Throwaway because I fear for my personal safety and life. > Having those opportunities available for you is what makes one "lucky". Only a small percentage of people make $45k/month even in the United States. > like there are billionaires in Vietnam who made their money while living there and still live there. There is no such thing in North Korea for example There are billionaires in hundreds of country. It’s disingenuous to cherry-pick North Korea and argue on the semantics of “lucky”. I looked up Vietnam’s billionaires list. Half of them have ties to Moscow. It’s pretty obvious they have political ties. It’s not relevant to comparing the meritocracy in those echelons with a bootstrapped indie hacker > some random thug with an AK won’t show up tomorrow to take your business as their own Yes, because the socialist party has a monopoly on violence and guns. Nonetheless, I’ve seen some street thugs chase each other on motorcycle with machetes in this decade. I’ve also seen the cops come to a small shop my uncle owned to collect protection money. They told him that their daughter's cellphone was broken and gave him an address to another cellphone shop, even though he was running a cellphone shop himself. If you don’t pay, they’ll take your customers for a ride around the block. My family is well connected in Vietnam, and I don't think you know what you're talking about. You're either a traveler who spent a few months in Southeast Asia, or someone living in Vietnam brainwashed by the government. I am familiar with how things work for the elite in Vietnam, and it's not relevant to discuss billionaires versus social mobility for most of the populace here. At one point, the richest family in Vietnam at the time was our next door neighbor. My siblings and I are legally barred from holding any executive position or government positions for political reasons. My cousins, however, are fine, and one them owns a zoo with a bear. My family is also well connected politically. I’m talking the people who run the largest city. Last week I was considering a trip to Vietnam, and realized I had to apply for a visa. My mom told me she just needs to make a call and they’ll escort me right through. The management at the airport will probably have my latte prepared for me, too. There are completely different set of rules for everyone else. The point is that Vietnam is no where close to this free and fair country you’re making it out to be. 95%+ of university grads won’t have spare income to be able to afford a trip to the United States in the next decade of working. Just because it's not Somalia doesn't mean the author was "lucky". His success from Vietnam can only be attributed to creating something people pay for, and not because they have to. Remember Flappy Bird? Even people in the West was impressed by how lucrative the ad revenue us. Ever wonder why the developed decided to delete in overnight? The answer is obvious for people who actually live in Vietnam, but you're not going to find anything about in the Vietnamese press, and the Western press didn't know enough to speculate.