The following is a letter from Dimitri’s sister in Greece:

“Friends of ours have died of heart attacks, stressed to the limit by debt, or worse, the loss of their cars and homes”
Dimitri…the decline in our income and therefore in many facets of our lives began in the fall of 2009.  In our family carpentry business, we began to go without work intermittently, but for longer and longer stretches as time progressed.  Customers who owed us large amounts of money couldn’t pay even 5% of the balance owing on their account.  Our customers of course gave priority to the payment of bank loans they had incurred as first-time homeowners or for the expansion of their businesses, or worse, they gave priority to the payment of credit card debts they had incurred in order to maintain the quality of their life, or simply to secure the basic necessities…rent, water, electricity, health insurance and food.  Slowly, cash has became more and more scarce for our customers, and therefore for us.