Spirits in the Material World

While not having the faintest inkling about the reasons behind Spain's faltering economy, (besides things like housing bubbles and socialized medicine and inflation) I have found it fascinating to experience how other countries handle and distribute their moneys.

I was going to Caja Laboral  the closest bank to the apartment for use of their ATM. Until one afternoon while as I was watching a hand reached from inside the ATM and started turning keys et al and took a large box from inside the back of the machine. This was all done while I standing there with my card in the machine :) NOT a good feeling! Yes I realize that someone somewhere is recording my financial activities for prosperity (and credit ratings) but this will simply not do.

It was all very 'ghost in the machine'.....   ;) 

The other thing I have noticed is that the Spaniards use paper record books. You know the type we used in the 70's, those adorable little vinyl-covered booklets that we all used to record Christmas gifts from Grandma. They take the books and insert them into the machine and the machine imprints the transaction onto a page of the booklet. Not me. No, i would take my little Hello Kitty pencil and dutifully record my expenses.

Another instance I came up to a machine and a gentleman told me that the ATM had no cash. In all of my decades of using one, I have never once experienced an ATM that did not have cash in its supply.

Finally and most disturbing of all is the large number of banks in Spain. Within a mile radius I am privy to at least a half-dozen different banking institutions. Barclay's, Santander, Caja Laboral, Corte Ingles.....it's bizarre.

I sense a connection between the number of banks and the fiscal health of a nation. The financial brevity of a nation is in direct correlation to its population of banks. The higher number of banks the taller the cliff the nation is on the brink of.

Just an observation.