“As the going gets tough in Greece, the Greeks are going shopping,” Marco Bertacche, Constantine Courcoulas, and Sam Chambers report for Bloomberg.
“The government was forced to extend capital controls and keep banks closed until at least Thursday as money runs out with no new bailout imminent,” Bertacche, Courcoulas, and Chambers report. “While some people are using their remaining available euros to buy staples to cover daily needs, others are hitting electronics and appliance stores for Apple Inc. computers and Sony PlayStations to max out their credit and debit cards where vendors still accept them. ‘People are spending the money they have in the bank because otherwise they’re afraid they won’t get it out,’ said Natasa, 33, a shop assistant at electronics retailer Plaisio Computer SA in central Athens. She asked not to be identified by her full name. ‘A Mac is something that keeps its value,’ she added, pointing to a gleaming 27-inch screen.”
“The economy already shrank by about 25 percent in six years of near-total recession, while unemployment is stuck at the highest level in Europe, or more than 50 percent for youth,” Bertacche, Courcoulas, and Chambers report. “With pharmaceuticals shortages reported and the prospect of a longer period of bank holiday and restrictions on imports, people are also stuck in limbo, afraid to leave their homes if they happen to have emergency cash under their mattresses.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “A Mac is something that keeps its value.” That much is sure.