by Harry Mayers

WE CAN'T SAY we have not been warned. And the warning has come free of cost from one of the big international professional firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

They have not told us anything we don't already know. But the problem is that we do not seem inclined to do what good businesses do: pause, take stock, refocus and go again.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has told us that we are living above our means – champagne lifestyles out of mauby pockets. We are keeping up appearances.

That is how I translate the following comment from the firm's just-released report on the Barbados Banking Industry:

"Banks have been focusing on credit cards, given the potential profitability of this product, and the fact that card portfolios have traditionally been low as a percentage of total loan portfolios.

"The availability of easy credit can result in a population that relies heavily on borrowings to maintain living standards, without adequately considering the ability to service this debt in the future."

So let the good times roll. Let the next generation have the headaches and
the hard times. Not a good legacy but that seems to be the attitude.

What is significant is that the observation about what easy money can do to a people has come from the local branch of one of the world's largest professional services organisations.

It is free advice we must heed as individuals, businesses and as a country.

A word to individuals, including yours truly: Get ready for plastic surgery. If you are not careful you'll have to cut up those plastic cards.