What's needed is a generational root canal

This item from the LA Times has been sitting around here for the last couple of days, but it's too good to just delete. This is the story of the Drakes who are at their wits end because they just can't seem to make ends meet.
It's somewhat disappointing to learn that Nathan is from Canada - he seems to have had little problem assimilating to life in Southern California.

Five years ago, at the tender age of 25, Nathan Drake of Whittier found himself separated from his wife and starting life over, but with an anvil around his neck.

Drake was nearly $25,000 in debt after spending got out of control in the emotionally rocky marriage, which ended in divorce. With just a car and a computer to his name, he moved on and into an apartment, buying everything anew from a shower curtain to a couch.

Drake eventually mended his heart, and he remarried last July. But his finances are still broken, and that anvil got much heavier.

The Canadian transplant, who nets $36,000 a year, is $54,000 in debt and considering bankruptcy.

"I'm at my wits' end," said Drake, 30, who works as a product manager for a Whittier microfiche storage and industrial furniture company. "My paycheck is spent before I get it."

Starting over -- and buying a truck and a sparkling wedding ring for his new wife -- put Drake further in the hole.

He dug it even deeper, splurging as a newlywed to show his Canadian wife, Jodi, 23, around Southern California. He and Jodi dined out on $100 seafood dinners, took trips to Las Vegas and, on weekends, went out to dinner and a movie.

All of it added up. Drake carries $29,000 in debt on six credit cards. He owes an additional $16,000 at his bank. And he has borrowed $9,000 from his 401(k) retirement plan, which is worth $14,000 and was his only unencumbered asset.

Each month, he spends nearly $2,000 more than he earns. Any financial mishap and he's further in the hole. Recently, Jodi needed a root canal, forcing him to put $900 more on plastic.

"He's in terrible shape," said Linda Barlow, a certified financial planner in Santa Ana who reviewed Drake's situation.

As Steve Martin would say, "Doo yah think?"

And speaking of Steve Martin, they've apparently taken down that excellent Saturday Night Live skit "Don't Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford" at YouTube, but you can still watch it at The Consumerist.