An interesting look at a theorized national German character. But I agree with the driver/interpreter woman, Germany is huge, Bavarian, and North German, and Hi

An interesting look at a theorized national German character. But I agree with the driver/interpreter woman, Germany is huge, Bavarian, and North German, and High German are not even mutually intelligible. The article just didn't convince me of anything. It didn't explain exactly why German banks were so blind to risk. And the claim that German banking is behind the times, is also just plain wrong. I can't find the Economist article, but there is one bemoaning how backward and inefficient American banks are compared to German banks. But the Economist might have referred more to retail banking, this seems to be more about investment banking. In any case, long article, interesting read, but does not answer much unless you buy into the author's weakly supported thesis that Germans are anal-retentive to the point of being cripplingly oblivious to any kind of deceit.