Biggest waste of money you've witnessed?

My cousin and her new husband bought one of those high definition plasma TVs that hang on your wall. They paid up front, in cash from her husband's last check before he had a two week break before he started a new job, and put the thing on the wall in their bedroom. I'd have personally put it in my living room. You know, so that other people could enjoy it. But whatever.

Well, after blowing several thousand dollars on this TV her husband goes to start his next job (he's a safety worker for petrochemical plants) and they won't let him into the plants because his license is expired. He couldn't get it renewed because he had several outstanding tickets that amounted to like $2500 or something. We had been telling my cousin for months to take care of the tickets but she and her husband seem to be unable to control their impulses to spend money on crap instead of using it to pay for necessary things. Never mind that her husband could have been arrested if a warrant would have been put out on him (I can't remember if there was a warrant or not). Obviously an HDTV is more important than not being thrown in jail. After paying for the TV they couldn't afford to pay for the tickets, so my cousin went whining to my grandpa, who of course forked it over because he has a soft spot for her. They would have been up a creek if my grandpa hadn't helped her.

The moral of this story: Get your priorities straight. Or get a rich grandpa who will bail you out when you're in trouble.

Jam it back in, in the dark.