Power, corruption and lies

F or 17 years, Mathaios Ploumis ran an ouzo restaurant on his home island of Chios in the Aegean Sea. Before the crisis, his restaurant was busy, a place full of islanders and tourists, and he lived well. “I paid my bills, put food on the table, fixed my house, bought gifts for my grandkids,” he says. “But after the crisis, that changed.”

In 2010, Greece revealed it was deeply in debt and ...