The informal economy in Vietnam

In my last post, I said I didn't have a clue why the Vietnamese economy seems to be thriving in the face of what is a real recession.  I got my clue this morning on Market Watch with a video on Asia's "Informal Economy" .  The informal economy is what I see everyday everywhere in Saigon -- entrepreneurial people out selling things on the streets.  If you lose your factory job, you hit the streets with a food stand and compete by making your products look better than the sellers a few meters away.