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Time is running out for Sam and his family

Let me tell you about my friend Sam. I've watched the way he handles his finances for years, and unfortunately, he never seems to learn from his past mistakes. He's never learned to live within his means, and he's now deeply buried in debt.

One of his biggest weaknesses is he has a hard time saying no when he sees a need. He has a good heart and tries to help people, even when there's no way he can afford it. He just keeps spending away, somehow assuming that everything will work out somehow. You probably know people like this, too.

In Gone with the Wind, Scarlett O'Hara captures Sam's basic outlook on his financial situation: "Oh, I can't think about this now! I'll go crazy if I do! I'll think about it tomorrow .... After all, tomorrow is another day!" I fear it's not going to end well.

On top of that, he has a big problem focusing on his work and seeing it to completion. Most of the things he's tried to do, he hasn't done very well. I hate to say it, but his incompetence has led to many disappointments. Here's an example of just one of his more recent failures.

His latest idea is to get into health care in a very big way. He's been working on a plan for many months, and it looks like a decision will be made soon. But there's still a lot of uncertainty about what the whole thing will cost.

Also, it's disconcerting that similar undertakings have been tried before, and the results have not been encouraging. One would think there are lessons to be learned from the failures of others, but Sam isn't buying it.

He's convinced he can make it work where others have fallen short. But given his track record of repeated failure when running big programs like this (not to mention the poor financial condition of that letter delivery business he started), it's really hard to believe this time will be any different.

Unfortunately, Sam's family serves as his biggest enabler. Rather than calling him to account and forcing him to face up to his shortcomings, they too often remain silent. Sam's family needs to get together for an intervention, or his profligate ways will be their ruin. You wonder if they'll wake up in time.

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