This seems to be a very myopic view of a large and diverse country. I've seen both extremes when it comes to talent and ethics.
Extremes exist in every country but a bad average exists just in some. Brazilian average is bad.
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.
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.
But most Brazilians I've talked paint the picture as a dire situation, unfortunately. Best of luck.