If you know how to hustle in the vernacular sense you can come to the USA penniless and retire wealthy.
The USA is a great place if you want/need the rule of law to protect property.
Overall, the US civil legal system is not corrupt. In many places in Asia and E. Europe corruption is systemic. It is much more difficult to keep a successful business in such an environment.
One example is real estate escrow services with title insurance.
Are you living in a different US? I'm not saying the path to wealth is beyond my horizon, but there's a lot in the way that only exists because previous generations managed things poorly. Someone starting a little further behind would have an exponentially harder time.
I am saying the USA is the easiest and safest place on planet earth to start your own business. If you know how to:
1. buy low & sell high
2. defer personal gratification
3. save a % of everything you earn
you can gradually grow wealthy.
The world is in recession, and the US might be starting to recover. It is a hard market right now. But it will recover and boom (and then crash) again.
I have traveled in Russia and Mexico and made friends with regular people who live there. I also studied economics at university. I am thinking about what I am writing here.
And you have the means to travel to Russia and Mexico with enough depth to get to know people there, and went to a university.
Travel is beyond the means of most people in the US, both in time (can't get time off) and money (living paycheck to paycheck is common). That's if you're fortunate enough to be in the upper range of the middle class. Much lower and you're lucky to see a movie once a year, or participate in the broader culture at all.
What seems to matter most is an area's social and physical infrastructure. A person in the poorest part of NYC can scrape together enough for a subway ride to a better part of town to look for opportunity. They might even have access to a charity transportation service.
A person in the suburbs is doomed if their car breaks down, unless they can afford to fix it or know someone with the time to shuttle them around.
These are understandings derived from my experience and the experiences of people I know. I only took an introductory economics class at a community college, but I've also known plenty of well-educated, well-traveled people with no perspective. It seems like depth of education and experience matters more than breadth.
Consider the possibility that your studies and travels didn't open your eyes wide enough to the situation in your own country.
> I am very curious what your specific examples are.
The world is moving in the right direction--especially away from suburban nests of roads that require a car, which is highly relevant to my own obstacles--, so I don't see a point in elaborating.
> 1. buy low & sell high 2. defer personal gratification 3. save a % of everything you earn
What if you start with nothing, in a place with little or no physical mobility? If you're lucky, someone you have access to has connections and is willing to work with you.
> I have traveled in Russia and Mexico and made friends with regular people who live there. I also studied economics at university. I am thinking about what I am writing here.
How much time have you spent in the US? I'm assuming you don't live here from the way you write.
