<<Why would you keep money at a Greek bank i where the government can confiscate them, or the bank may be subject to a run - better to keep them under the mattress.>>
I have some personal experience on somewhat similar subject. <g>
In Cuba before Castro, the Cuban peso and the US dollar used to circulate at par, and nobody did care whether they were paid on pesos or dollars.
When Castro first took over,people were afraid that he would install a communist regime and withdrew a lot of money from the banks, trying to buy dollars where available, some traveling to the Guantanamo area, where Cubans workers at the base were paid in dollars. But dollars soon became almost unavailable and a few that could be bought demanded a high premium.<g> .
It didn't take long for Castro to print "new money"and declare the old money no longer valid,
Those holding "old money" under the mattresses were allowed to deposit only $10Ks back in the banks to be exchanged for "new money", Those holding larger amounts went to friends and relatives so they could deposit $10Ks and give them a commission for exchanging it into "new money". <g>
In the earlier sixties when it was still possible to leave Castrolandia, the people that had a nice home and a good car or some other valuable properties, were able to get priority on obtaining a government permit to leave, since there were a lot of anxious officials waiting to take it over.
But in some cases it could take weeks and months from the time the initial inventory of the properties were made to the time of the final inventory when the official permit was available.
At that "Final Inventory" not only they had to still have available all the previous items, including house furniture, and personal items like shoes, etc, but also leave any car, TV, radio, or other electronic item in a "working condition", in order that they would not had sabotaged or damaged it in some way.<g>
They also had to replace any money they had withdrawn from their bank accounts from the time of the "Initial Inventory".
So they had to see if some friends or relatives still in Castrolandia or already out could lend them the parts to fix any of the defective items, or the money to replace the amounts they had used during the 'waiting period".
Bottom line: In some places the money under the mattress can become worthless.<g>
And even here it gradually keeps loosing value from persistent inflationary pressures and the government printing presses.
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