Our friends Maeve and Greg have been going through a hard time again, after a beautiful reunion romance on Valentine?s Day. They have always had financial difficulties. The difficulty being that they do not have the finances that would support the kind of lifestyle they would both like to buy. Two weeks ago, they held a grand, domestic ?family budget review? that was intended to resolve their problems. At this review, they decided that Greg was spending too much money on beer and whisky, so the drinks bill would have to be cut down. Last Monday, Greg was picking the car keys out of Maeve?s handbag, when he noticed a receipt from ?Health and Beauty?. It was for several items of make-up worth Rs 3,200.

That evening Greg raised the matter with Maeve. When she was challenged about the price of the make-up, she tried to justify it on the grounds that it was really a bargain, compared to what she would have paid if she had gone to a more expensive shop. This was not a very effective way of calming Greg down so ?Our Maeve? had a little cry and said that she only bought it to make herself look pretty for "him". He reacted very badly and said that he only used to drink beer and whisky so that she would look pretty "to him"? Of course, this led to one of their famous arguments and this is where Jenny and I become involved.

Lack of money can certainly strain any relationship but unwise spending and bad money management can do even more damage. I did offer to help with some financial counselling but the complexity of the situation frightened all my business senses. It would have been easier to balance the National budget of Ecuador or Venezuela. They had become victims of the banks and money-lending organizations who offer solutions to your debt problems by lending you even more money, at even higher rates of interest. Maeve and Greg freely admit that they have not always responded sensibly to bank ultimatums and final demands.

Their method of dealing with a letter from the bank, that probably contains bad news, is to leave it unopened. They always feel that there are much more important and interesting things to do than look at a bank statement. They once decided that their financial difficulties were all due to their work-related stress and it would all seem much better if they gave themselves an expensive worry-free holiday. Another time they travelled to Hong Kong, where they were convinced that commercial opportunities would just open up before their eyes. They still have large boxes of tin openers, fluorescent Go-Go sticks, magic trees and ping pong balls, in their spare room, waiting for the next fancy fair.

They did have a temporary period of liquidity after Greg had worked on a very profitable temporary contract in Qatar. They have even considered going their separate ways for a while in Canada and Australia to fully recover their finances. I think this just coincided with a time when they would have liked to put 10,000 miles between each other. The truth is that they love the ritual of arguing with each other everyday too much for that. Arguments by long distance telephone contact would probably have absorbed any extra salary they could earn.

When I look up at the Port Louis skyline, I am amazed at the speed of the transformation. The big banks and financial institutions are throwing up bigger and more prestigious buildings. Where does the money come from? The answer is ? from us! It has been calculated that during an average five-day week we only work two days for ourselves and our family, one day for the Government and we work the other two days, to repay interest on our debts. What is a problem of personal debt to the individual is actually a rich bonanza to the banks. They justify the high interest imposed, on the basis that they have administration and management fees and that they must be ready to cover bad debts.

A very senior officer of a major bank has recently suggested that he would not be so silly as to borrow money on his own bank?s credit card but, what was he saying about the many millions of his customers who fail to clear their account at the end of each month? These institutions absolutely rely on us being silly and gullible to make huge amounts of profit. We confidently think that things will get better next month, when we will be able to repay more on our account. Of course, at the end of next month, it is worse. At the beginning of every month, they take all my salary and then they lend it back to me at the end of the month at an inflated rate of interest. There was a time when banks performed the service of looking after our money. We banked our money and they made a small charge for the inconvenience of looking after it. It is now true that we look after money for the banks. They bank their money with us and then make an even larger charge just in case we do not look after it very well!

We all look forward to the day when we have cleared our housing loan and have no more debt, and we even expect this to happen. But, what would happen if we all became sensible with our money? If we stopped borrowing any more and started to pay it all back, what would happen? All the major financial institutions would suddenly become very unprofitable and very soon become bankrupt. Does anyone have any ideas about what could then be done with those huge multi-storey complexes? Pigeon lofts? Testing altimeters? Film sets? Answers ?on a postcard? (with view of Port Louis skyline) to Jules Jerret c/o l?express. Hold on ? I think I might lose my job under these circumstances. It may be better if people keep a reasonable level of debt after all, at least for a while.

As for Maeve and Greg they are still staggering on with their complex financial arrangements. We know that they are both fully aware of the situation and they know that they both overspend and they both worry about it together. At least they are talking about it and laughing about it now. The situation is much more threatening if both members of the couple are not equally aware. If one of them does all the overspending and the other one does all the worrying, then a crisis is likely to develop.

Our friends have agreed that Maeve will buy some essential make-up (to highlight the bright spots) and Greg will buy some beer (to blur the senses) because they both want to go on looking pretty for each other? until the next time. That is sweet!

Jules JERRET