Greeks are so strapped for cash that they can't bury their dead properly
At the end of June, the Greek government instituted capital controls — limits on how much money can be drawn from banks — after negotiations with the eurozone broke down and the country's fiscal and monetary lifelines disappeared. Two weeks in, Greek economic life is seizing up.
In fact, Mashable is reporting that more and more Greeks can't even pay the cost of a funeral.
"People can't afford buying the graves," one local funeral business told the outlet, noting sales had dropped more than half since the capital controls began. "They just bury the bodies and that's it."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Greece is facing shortages of drugs and medical supplies, while shipments of perishable items rot on Greek docks because businesses literally can't afford to come pick them up. The country's larger corporations have foreign accounts that aren't covered by the capital controls. But smaller businesses, like everyday Greeks, are watching their ability to buy, sell, or really do any trading of any sort run dry. The economy is essentially dying from the bottom up. What buying is still going on is arguably a panicked binge by the upper class before even their funds run dry.
Although the Greek government appears poised to accede to European demands on Sunday, the country's economic collapse is already worse than America's Great Depression.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.
-
Crossword: November 19, 2025The daily crossword from The Week
-
God is now just one text away because of AIUnder the radar People can talk to a higher power through AI chatbots
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
-
US mints final penny after 232-year runSpeed Read Production of the one-cent coin has ended
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
