I’ve been around Europe for twenty-five years. I would agree....finding an ATM prior to the Euro was just about impossible. On the base, we had two machines....one for DM and one for dollars. If you wanted both....you had to play the ATM game twice.
Oddly, since the Euro arrival....no matter where you go in France, Germany or most countries....you will find ATMs throughout most cities. In my village of 3,000 residents, we have two ATMs. Before 2000....none existed.
For bankers and business people...the Euro is great. For travelers, the Euro is great. For anyone who knows how to handle money....I don’t see the problem. The Greeks are the oddball in this whole story. It wouldn’t matter if they were handling the Drachma or Euro....they’d screw up the situation in a matter of just a few years.
So, I’ll predict....as they eventually flip back to the Drachma....they barely get to three years before another crisis occurs.
The convenience is one thing, but this is not
just about consumer or even business convenience.
This is about different cultures joining a monetary
union. Monetary policy follows culture.
If Greece is profligate, they will suffer inflation
as an escape valve. They will devalue their own currency,
and their own economy will suffer.
Profligate Greece knew they got someone else to pay this
bill at monetary union. Germans projected their own
culture on Greece. Wishful thinking.
More broadly, the one-world types wanted this as a way
station onto world governance. The more it shows itself
to fail, the less we are likely to suffer from that
calamity.
They won’t even get three years; nobody is going to want to accept drachmas as payment. For anything they import they will have to use another currency (or gold).