I am traveling through south east Asia and often wonder what keeps a country poor around here.

Currently in Laos 🇱🇦, I learn today that import duties are 60 percent here.

60 fucking percent of any import, the government steals from the importer. That explains a lot of it, they rely on imports considering they don't have a lot of industry here.

If you compare development here to the neighbor Thailand, it's night and day.