There’s a scene in It’s a Wonderful Life you might remember. The citizens of Bedford Falls descend on the Savings and Loan, demanding cash in hand. A beleaguered George Bailey explains that the money’s not actually in the bank; it’s tied up in various investments. Eventually, he talks most of them down. In the 21st century, though, and in Greece this week in particular, there is no George Bailey. In fact, in Greece this week there are no open banks. There are just ATMs.
The economic drama in Greece continues to evolve. The country just missed a debt payment to the International Monetary Fund, adding to the cascading crisis. Empty cash machines are far from the only pressing problem. But they’re perhaps the most concrete symbol of how a financial meltdown exposes the fragility of our modern systems for buying and selling.
As economies crumble, so does the viability of the digital infrastructure that so much of the world has come to take for granted as the way money moves. The harder an economy is hit, the more valuable cash becomes. But as Greek citizens coming away from ATMs empty-handed can attest, it turns out that money and currency aren’t the same thing.
The post Greece’s Empty ATMs Show the Surprising Power of Cash—Even in 2015 appeared first on Trunews:.
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