Sunday Forum: Living the Canadian dream

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It used to be our dream, laments TINA DUPUY

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Imagine a handsome young family with kids living in a stylish two-story home in a quiet neighborhood. The parents work normal middle-class jobs. The dad is a city bus driver; Mom is a secretary. Their house is brimming with consumer goods: a couple of mammoth-sized televisions, a drum set for the kids and high-end furniture. The mother's closet is bursting with clothes. Dad has a motorcycle. Combined they make just under $90,000 a year.

This couple is being featured on a show running on CNBC, now in its eighth season, called "Til Debt Do We Part." And like most people on television shows, they have a problem and they need to go on television to fix it.

Apparently Mom and Dad have been heavy-handed with their credit cards. They owe $60,000. The matronly host, Gail Vaz-Oxlade, gently lays down the law: They have to live within their means. Pay down credit cards. Pay into a savings account. Save for their children's education. The message this self-proclaimed Dollar Diva has for the couple is they are drifting apart and debt is the culprit.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09340/1018514-109.stm?cmpid=newspanel#ixzz0Z03SqMGr