It's a myth that Brazilians are more creative. Doing business in Brazil is incredibly difficult - lack of talent, ethics and terrible financial sector.
But what drove me away was not the money - I make a lot more money now, but in a much more expensive place. Retirement projections remain firmly planted on the very same date since I left and aren't going to change much either way unless some major upheaval happens.
What really drove me out was my lack of faith. Corruption was rampant (it was always like this, since well before I was born) but it was being investigated, in some cases more seriously than others, but the local equivalents to the DoJ and the FBI (I'm doing this for the Americans in the audience, hope it helps), for the first time since essentially ever, able to work free from executive interference and, unsurprisingly, uncovered a lot of misdeeds. With that, the perceived corruption skyrocketed, government popularity sunk, trust in the government went into a death spiral and the legislative and judiciary decided it'd be convenient to stage a coup (sorry, "impeachment" is not the right word) so that someone more malleable would be in power (there was even a phone recording stating that much).
At that moment I was over for me. I grew up in post-64 coup Brazil and don't want my daughter to go through the same.
Their national museum just burned down because the country couldn't even allocate funding properly. You expect running a business there is going to be a simple and transparent affair?
This is not a knock on the people themselves. They're smart, caring and competent, but to be honest, the country is a mess.
But most Brazilians I've talked paint the picture as a dire situation, unfortunately. Best of luck.
That is completely false. I can’t imagine where you got this from.
Brazilian baking is years ahead of the US, not that it represents a high bar.
Perhaps from daily life?
There are long lines on most bank branches I go to, unless you're wealthy enough for the manager to pamper you. Red tape in this country is so bad that there is a whole industry to avoid it ("despachantes").
BTW, the trick this industry uses to avoid banking lines is to hire old retired people to buck the line for them (there's a law here giving to old people that privilege). They basically screw everyone else by buying privileges. Some call it the "Brazilian touch" (jeitinho brasileiro), I call it corrupted morals.
> Brazilian baking is years ahead of the US
Really? To do online banking in your computer with Banco do Brasil you need to ask permission to your branch manager and install a specific virus on your computer. I believe the same goes for Bradesco and Itaú. Many ATMs and branches in small towns are being closed and leaving those places without financial services because mobs moved from big cities to rob those places without good police. And, guess what, people there can't do online banking.
>To do online banking in your computer with Banco do Brasil you need to ask permission to your branch manager and install a virus on your computer
Yes, but most people use the phone app, which is ok. Banking on a computer is bad everywhere.
chip & pin rolled out a year and a half or so ago, including to a small general store in rural central Maine.
Brazil has had it for 20 years, though.
Extremes exist in every country but a bad average exists just in some. Brazilian average is bad.