What are we to think of a country where…
ROME: A simple task: Exchange $100 US for Euros. To get a good rate, it is best to visit a bank.
First we had to pass though a chamber where one door opened and closed behind and then a second door opens. Mrs. Watchdog and I tried to go together but the second door would not permit two at a time. Can’t be too careful.
There was no cashier counter, and the two ladies at desks ignored us until I addressed one who then referred me to the other. I asked the young lady if the bank exchanged money, was told they did, and I proffered two fifties.
She asked for my passport. She then proceeded studiously to enter not just my passport number but every other piece of information into her computer. The phone rang, she answered it, and spent about three minutes with the caller, one in answering the question and the other two trying to say goodbye. (Some things are the same worldwide!)
At this point I took one of the seats in front of her desk anticipating an extended stay.
Then she excused herself to go into a back room and, after about five minutes, returned with papers in triplicate for me to sign in two different locations. To simply exchange dollars for Euros, the transaction was simulating the purchase of a car!
Finally, almost fifteen minutes after arriving, my Euros were pleasantly delivered. I was pleased to see that I had saved perhaps $5 by using the bank, at a return of $20 an hour. However, I doubted that the bank had made any profit on the transaction.
Well, one can blame the Italians for the bureaucracy, a country under pressure by creditors (for reasons that are not quite clear since their debt ratio to Gross National Product is not that high.)
Having shared my amusement at the complex process with the lady assisting me, I concluded the transaction by thanking her and telling her that, if she thought that the banking bureaucracy in Italy was convoluted and inefficient, she should get to see the American health care delivery system.
If Italy is at all like France, all a citizen needs to do for a visit to a doctor is hand him/her a credit card sized plastic health care and perhaps $15. The patient’s health records including x-rays since birth would be a micro chip, the doctor would add his/her observations to the chip, and the doctor would receive the balance of the fee as established through set rates as part of a lump sum payment at the end of the month.
Perhaps it is similar in Italy, one of all the modern countries other than the USA that have single payer health care system.
So what are we to think of a country where it takes fifteen minutes and triplicate documents to exchange a $100 for say 60 Euros? Well what are we to think of a country that wastes at least 6% of its Gross National Product on unproductive method of providing health care due to a delivery approach established as a way to get around wage price controls during World War II?
Given a choice, we would prefer just dealing with a bureaucratic nonsense and waste when we exchange money.
