ON SEPTEMBER 20th, Greeks will once again vote in an election, having last chosen a new government in January and also voted in a referendum in July. The year has been marked by economic turmoil even worse than in previous ones, culminating in the imposition of limits on cash withdrawals from banks. Circumstances are unlikely to improve, whatever the outcome of the poll. But somehow Greeks carry on, cashless but ingenious.
Many households have hidden large sums in beds. The practice hails from the time of tight foreign exchange controls in the 1970s. “Mattress money makes me feel safer,” says Dina Efthymiou, a pensioner. The number of burglaries has gone up as a result but the police refuse to give out figures. Estimates put the increase at about 15%. That the number is not higher suggests Greeks are getting better at concealing their cash. Some seal it in with cement.
The continuing cash shortage has also prompted more than a million people, including Mrs Efthymiou, to buy on credit. “I never got any bank cards because I worried about falling into debt,” she says. “Now I…