Though a' » ´ rarely gets online, she does have a FaceBook page, and among her dozen virtual friends is some Nigerian guy, who has written her, "You are so beautiful," "I'm in love with you," "I want to marry you." I'm certain Africa is not in a' » ´'s future.
Though still poor, a' » ´ and her kids have seen their lives improved through the years, a development that gives them hope, and they have no fear of being homeless, unlike many Americans. With their extensive network of family and friends, somebody will always provide them with a spot to sleep, with a roof over it, even if it's of rusting tin. Moreover, they won't freeze to death should they somehow end up on the sidewalk, for it's always summer in Saigon.
A Vietnamese factory worker typically earns between $260 and $300 a month, but his rent should be $43 or much less, depending on how many people he wants to share his tiny room with. Though earning and spending so little, he can still whoop it up fairly regularly with his buddies, as well as save. It's this standard of living that American workers must consent to, if they want to compete globally.
Everyone knows about the US' runaway trade imbalance with China, but it's also incurring a massive deficit with Vietnam, which in 2017 alone totaled $38 billion. As with so much else, Americans are oblivious to their nation's true poverty, but this bankruptcy will hit them like a surprise roundhouse kick upside the head, soon enough.
In my Saigon neighborhood, there was an oddly dapper man who repaired and sold shoes, and I used to see him each morning, sitting behind his pitiful array of beat up loafers, wingtips and sandals. Suddenly, the man disappeared, and I thought he was just temporarily sick, but he's really gone, for good.
"He owes so many people so much money, he had to run away," I've been told.
If only deadbeat Sammy can do the same.
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