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Comment by lacampbell | Hacker News Reader

Where is it easier to strike it rich?

Europe according to this guy: https://www.ted.com/talks/harald_eia_where_in_the_world_is_i...

The theory makes sense, a better safety net means it's easier to take risks, 'celebrate failure' and all that

There is no such thing as "celebrate failure" culture in Europe. Not in France, not in Netherlands, not in Germany. Safety net is not free (it limits the top achievement), and is not available for everyone (e.g. as an immigrant, I am not allowed to use most of the social services; the same will apply for you).

US culture is much more preferable for the entrepreneurs.

China maybe? But my guess is no where, which is why populists are on the march globally.

America 30 years ago, which is the point

Maybe closer to 35-45 years ago? Put another way, sometime in the late 1970s through mid 80s? Or did you mean specifically the late 1980s? I vaguely recall the adults mentioning something about a 'recession' in the early 90s, but I don't think it was anything near as bad as the last roughly 10 years.

The data in the article was comparing more modern stats with other stats starting in mid 80s which is why I gave 30 years. You could probably expand it as far back as the 50s and probably still be accurate

There are 15 countries according to this study: https://inequality.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/Pathways...

Also see - https://www.trutv.com/shows/adam-ruins-everything/blog/adams...

Canada https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/has-the-american-dream-m...

Canada, Denmark, UK (2017) https://www.businessinsider.com/the-american-dream-of-social...

Not China, unless you're Chinese. Right now you want to go to less developed economies.

Asia - China, India, Vietnam

China.

"Although the U.S. will remain a world leader in the number of millionaires, reaching as many as 20.5 million over the next five years, Credit Suisse forecasts that China will mint new seven-figure fortunes at more than three times the rate over the same period."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-18/u-s-to-re...

But, with China having 4x the U.S. population, wouldn't "odds of becoming a (b/m)illionaire" still be higher in the States, even if raw amount of new millionaires is higher in China?

This is another oddly plucked stat from another Bloomberg clickbait article. Their internal rate of new millionaires is increasing, because they have fewer millionaires and more people. They’re still creating net less new millionaires than the US per year.

That makes sense given that China has ~4x the population of the United States.

well only if your chinese. chinese tend to not work well with non chinese.

I'd encourage you to read this book, it certainly made me think differently about China: Dealing with China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower by Henry M. Paulson

https://www.amazon.com/Dealing-China-Insider-Economic-Superp...

I'd rather take economic and business advice from the hobo outside my bus stop screaming at pigeons than take advice from Hank Paulson.

It's not a self help book it's a story

Are you Chinese yourself? I have a number of really great native-born Chinese colleagues.

PHGamer's comment could have been phrased better. But I suspect the actual point is this: It might be hard for a non-Chinese to become rich in China - harder, say, than for a non-US-citizen to become rich in the US.

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