We all have our new Calendars ready to start crossing off the days of the New Year but before we do that, you got to think of what you accomplished this past year or more importantly who were the people that meant the most to you. Then you got to hug or kiss them tomorrow night where millions pf people around the world show their outward display of public affection.

I don’t care if you plan to stay alone on New Years Eve, text, or skype, or call or go to a website and wish someone well. Why not? Because the time has come to think of those you lost and to think of who you would like to meet. Time for farewells and time for plans. That is what we do!

The people who gave us gifts to our lives that we lost this past year were Steve Jobs who gave us the gifts of new gadgets that made our lives easier and more pleasurable. Elizabeth Taylor who appeared in more than 50 movies, Won the Academy Awards twice, married 8 times, was an advocate for Aids awareness and built a fortune from branding perfume. Did I mention she was very beautiful?

Sidney Lumet never got an Oscar for his directing but gave us” Serpico” the movie along with “Dog Day Afternoon,” “The Hill.” among countless others that drew 40 nominations. We will miss his work in the movies. Five years ago they did give him an honorary Academy Award.

The music scores of John Barry, especially the notes we heard in the James Bond movies won’t be played anymore. We lost him too.

Betty Ford, the coolest wife in the White House is gone who is best known for the addiction clinics named after her and her appreciation for the arts. She was a dancer who used to dance on top of the large conference tables in the White House.

Geraldine Ferraro will be missed, she is the first woman ever to be nominated for a national office by being nominated Vice-President of the United States. We witnessed a major change in history in 1984.

We have to remember the troops who have been fighting the war for us for ten years. This past year 460 brave soldiers died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Frank Buckles died too at the age of 110 who went to war at the age of 16 to World War I. Yes, he was the last surviving American Veteran from that war.

The man who showed his lifelong commitment to health and fitness, well, no one lives forever now that Jack Lalanne has died at the age of 96 years old.

Television favorites died this year too. Favorites like Peter Falk from the Columbo show.

The actor James Arness died; the guy that fought cowboy crime on TV in the show called Gunsmoke. During the 50’s and 60’s more than 50 million viewers tuned into watching that show on TV. We can’t forget Harry Morgan from Mash or Jeff Conaway from Taxi who became more famous for his drug addictions. Or even Sherwood Schwartz. Who is he? A TV legend who created the music and the show for the Brady Bunch and Gilligan’s Island. More people know the lyrics to those songs than they know the words to the Star Spangled Banner.

The most newsworthy death this year was the successful operation by the United States that killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda. His life caused many deaths on 9-11

Young stars died this year too. At the age of 33 the race car driver Dan Wilden who won the Indy 500 race twice died on the racetrack. Singer Amy Winehouse was even younger at age 27 when she died this year .

I will personally miss the fiery redhead actress Jane Russell and the boxer Joe Frasier who had 27 knock outs in his career. And Clarence Clemons who played Saxophone in Bruce Springsteen’s Band.

Lets humbly thank the inventor of Super Glue, Harry Koover and another favorite Arch West the creator of the Frito Lay Doritos. Also, the composer of the favorite Christmas song ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” Hugh Martin. They all made an indelible mark on the 20^th Century.

Jack Kevorkian died who helped people die. And Andy Rooney is gone who was so happy to be able to say his opinion on anything . He was paid to say anything he wanted as I write here to say whatever I want. And I thank the 20 Thousand of you who type TheOtherSerpico and read my thoughts. Thanks for remembering me and Happy New Year.

　

You are in the middle of the Holidays and gave all the gifts out and went to most of the parties, what is there left  to do? There isn’t even enough snow anywhere this year to go skiing! So, lets go see the new movies out this winter.

Tis the season to go to the movies. Skip the new Sherlock Holmes movie “A Game of Shadows” though the English actor Jared Harris is an agreeable chilling character of a Professor Moriarty. Of course if you loved Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law and their brand of chemistry as seen in the other Sherlock Holmes movie, You’ll like this chapter of the same stuff you saw before.

Coming home comedies should be a safe harmless thing to see but not this sour movie starring Charleis Theron that is called “Young Adults.” She is so beautiful but here she is called a psychotic prom queen bitch and is a delusional drunken witch from hell. The rest of the movie dwells on how the other characters deal with this weirdo.

Everyone wants to see the revenge thriller “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.” It is the American version of the popular revenge thriller book by Stieg Larsson from Sweden. You have to be a weirdo to think that this stuff is entertainment. But if you like watching rapists, and Neo-Nazi serial killers get really kicked by a chick with piercing and a tattoo, this movie brings on the hate from both sides.

A kinder and gentler movie called “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” is loosely based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s Novel about boys and their Dad’s tragic legacies. The boy in this movie lost his dad played by Tom Hanks on 911. After he died, the boy found a key in the Dad’s closet and he spends the rest of the movie trying to figure out what the key could possibly open. It is basically a scavenger hunt for the unknown but is done well and is very powerful.

“Tinker Taylor Soldier Spies” stars Gary Oldtman as George Smiley and is hard to follow even if you have read John LeCarre’s book. It is set in the cold war paranoia setting of double agents and spies sinuous with that era in time and will thrill you with all the ideas they came up with to spy on the enemies.

The more action heavy espionage picture is “Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol” owned and starring Tom Cruise. It is the 4^th movie he has done in this series. Tom finally lets other actors like Jeremy Renner in on some action scenes. Here you see the genius of Pixar’s Brad Bird's first non-animated movie. All the action scenes no matter how dangerous, you get the feeling that the hero will never be harmed just like a cartoon.

America’s famous director Steven Spielberg has woken up and gave us 2 great movies to see lately. One is “The Adventure’s of Tin Tin” which owns the honor of being Steven’s first animated movie. Here he goes wild being able to do anything he wants and still having the action adventure like his “Indiana Jones” movies and here no children are harmed on the set.

Speilberg’s other gift to us this season is “War Horse” yes, a movie about a horse. The story comes from a children’s book told through the eyes of a horse. Different. It is set during the first World War where horses were taken from their owners to be used during the War. Some may say it is a corny movie like the old Disney family movies, but others might find it comforting that it is a heart warming story even though it shows too much of the slaughter that wars bring on. It reminds us of our common humanity even though the main character is a horse.

The healthiest place on earth is located in the most backward place on earth. The ocean is alive and well flourishing with live coral reefs and huge fish. You would think it was in the Bahamas but sadly no. It is off the coast of poor Cuba in a place named The Gardens of the Queen.

Coral reefs are often called the rainforests of the ocean. They are stunningly beautiful and are composed of towers of healthy organisms that feed all sorts of living things in the ocean. Kind of a candy store for fish where they can taste everything from every colorful tower. The Bahamas used to be that place but sadly too much tourism and cruise trip traffic has left the oceans there little more than a super highway for luxury ocean liners complete with their trash.

The Coral reefs anywhere are a source of food and income for nearly a billion people and of course something as valuable as this to the world is in danger. Scientists estimate that 25% of the world’s reefs have died completely. What is left is at risk. Years ago you could go scuba diving near reefs and even pluck off a piece as a souvenir. Today you could be arrested if you touch the coral and besides, you wouldn’t want to anymore. They do not look that abundant at least in the Bahamas.

They say that there is one spot in the Caribbean that marine biologists describe as an underwater Eden. A coral reef largely untouched by humans. It is called The Gardens Of The Queen and getting permission to go there isn’t easy. It is located off the coast of Cuba. And, yes you guessed it, there are NO direct flights there.

You can take a flight now to Cuba’s Capitol, Havana but why would you? The city is a mess and is crumbling, streets unpaved and run down buildings. There was a time when Cuba was beautiful and attracted tourists from everywhere. Now you are lucky if you can get a ride from a 1956 Chevy.

From Havana, you have to drive 6 hours through the countryside and then take a boat ride for another 6 hours more till you reach a stretch of tiny islands 50 miles off Cuba’s southern coast. The island of Cuba actually shields this area from the ocean superhighway to the Bahamas. These islands are little more than patches of moss and sand.

The only inhabitants are hermit crabs and iguanas. Christopher Columbus named this area after his Queen Isabella. To see the real gardens you have to scuba there. There you can see the most protected and flourishing reef most boaters have ever seen. According to David Guggenheim, a Marine Biologist and a Senior Fellow at the Ocean Foundation in Washington D.C., he claims the coral is healthy and the fish are healthy and abundant.

There are large predatory fish there like large sharks. It is the way eco-systems should look. The first thing you notice at this area according to the few that are able to go there, is the coral, its color and its texture. Coral isn’t a rock or a plant. It is colonies of tiny animals that share a common skeleton. Pillar coral is evident there and is one of the rarest types of coral. Coral is one of the oldest living animals on the planet. Some of it could be 4,000 years old.

So, who cares. We do because the reefs hold an extraordinary amount of diverse fish. It holds a very complex relationship between the fish there. Small shrimp can be seen cleaning the mouth of a 400 pound grouper. Humans have taken about 80% of the world’s sharks out of the oceans within the last 50 years. Other predatory fish like tuna and swordfish are gone as well in large numbers.

The world’s temperature is rising and in most areas the coral is white or called bleached from the warm temperatures. Fidel Castro, the leader of Cuba in 1996 made this area one of the largest marine preserve in the Caribbean. That means almost all commercial fishing was banned. Since then the population of fish has grown dramatically by as much as 30 to 50% depending on the species.

Even fishing is regulated in Cuba. Tourism is tightly regulated. Only 500 fly fisherman and 1,000 divers are permitted to come each year and the fisherman have to release their catch. If a commercial fishing boat were to be allowed there, much of everything would be depleted quickly. Those boats are highly efficient killing machines.

So. Cuba is poor; the people are living very simple lives with few of the worlds new inventions. Yes, they do not have pollution, agricultural run-off, coastal development and over fishing like the rest of the so called developed countries have. Well, good for them. Without all the man made nonsense the earth’s sea has a chance to recover from human’s harm. If you want to be rejuvenated, visit a healthy coral reef. Leave the earth alone and let it do its job of giving us a beautiful paradise on land and in the seas.

We all need some gratitude especially after we got all our gifts in this gift giving season of the year. Tis the season to be thankful. It is all about your attitude. They say, count your blessings. How do you do that? I was counting how many drinks everyone was having, you know just to protect the citizens of America from the drunks pretending to be happy.

We know we should be grateful for new stuff but we should be grateful for the kind notes in greeting cards sent and for the little things like a young child staring up at the wonder of a Christmas tree with its unusual lights going in and out in patterns. And grateful that you have avoided handsy Annie at work who always has to touch your arm for some reason. Sorry Annie but it is true. Haha

During the holidays it is easy to forget to be grateful. Dealing with in-laws, Christmas sweaters, and Secret Santa extortion funds, Hanukah lists and the exhausting ritual of baking those wonderful desserts and cookies that you only dare to make once a year. The battle to then try to resist those special cookies. When they make the sugar cookies in the shapes of an angel, I can’t resist just biting the head off of that angel cookie.

It is really easy to forget to be grateful once the Santas with their bells go away and the store shelves are empty without any Christmas junk to buy. How can we make gratitude last? There have been some studies performed on the subject. One was called. “Counting Blessings Versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life.”

The study found that being grateful has sound physiological and emotional benefits. One study asked people to keep a journal for 10 weeks. One group were to describe 5 things they were grateful for each week. One group wrote down their hassles and a third group were told to write down 5 things that affected them but not to dwell on the positive or the negative.

The gratitude group emerged from the study 25% happier than the other groups. They were in better health and averaged an hour and a half more exercise than the griping group. Well, then most of America is overweight and not happy. Yes, somehow we need to be grateful for something for our health too.

Appreciation can be contagious. Their spouses noticed their happiness as well. Or maybe the spouses were just noticing how great their partner’s asses were looking from the extra workouts at the gym.

Thankfulness is also a anti-depressant. According to another psychological study, clinically depressed people demonstrate about 50% less gratitude than people that are feeling fine. A Thank You a day just might keep the Prozac away! This is not fairy tales and wishes, this is neuroscience!

Perhaps it was a scientist that captured the spirit of gratitude the best. It was Einstein that said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” So, lets take note of the miracles in your lives. The new baby someone you know just had, the soldier that just came home and has his or her brain and arms and legs still, or the miracle that you survived the holiday without fighting with a relative you haven’t seen lately for some reason.

So, they tell us to have a grateful New Year too.

Thank your god that the shopping season is almost over. Soon no more rushing to stores to find rude people and small quantities of whatever you wanted. Back then a gift was simple and easy. Three wise men gave three gifts to the new born baby Jesus. That was it. Gifts were over with. Now you are getting into a fist fight over the latest $200 Jordan sneakers!

The frenzy of the holiday season never seems to cease from year to year. The battles between customers and retailers and this year like never before , between the online and in store worlds of shopping. Those guys that wrote the bible should have though more about the craziness giving gifts would cause generations later.

It is obvious that the Christmas season has become the retailers Superbowl. According to a financial analyst, Colin Gillis from B.C.G. Financial, notes that America still loves to spend but they all want discounts. So, to entice shoppers, retailers promoted their version of the most important days till Christmas. Kind of a warped present day version of The Twelve Days of Christmas we all sang about.

On November 25 the retailers called it Black Friday. On November 26^th there was Small Business Saturday. November 28^th was called Cyber Monday. A new one was called Green Monday December 12^th. This increases the marketing mania with Free Shipping Friday on December 16^th. At this point, we’ve all had enough chasing around for a break in prices. If retailers can all agree on these crazy days then Why can’t they agree on pricing and make life simple? One price for something everywhere!!! They would never do that!

The smart phones were one of the hottest gifts this year and if you already had one, you were in luck to be able to get the best prices on everything. Knowledge is power and you had the power in the palm of your hand this year . Literally! The smart phone has the capability to be a major shopping tool. One third of all Americans already have a smart device through a phone or IPad. These devices are changing the way people buy things.

Before, the price of something was the price. If you were bold, you could call the manager over and haggle with him or her and get a small break. Now, the power is in the hands of the person who holds the smartphone. This makes for a huge economic shift. That is because now you can compare any stores prices with other retailers on the smart phone on the same page of your screen listing the price of the thing at all major stores.

Amazon this year offered special discounts if a customer went into a store compared prices and then bought the thing on their website. Ultimately now, you will walk into a store, see something you want, scan it with your phone, check the price and if you like it, you will pay for it with your phone.

There is a lot of comparison shopping predicted in the future too. There is also an App that tells you what you will probably buy in the future. Yes there are programs that track what you have bought and steer advertising towards your interests. Yes, some sites analyze prices and predict whether they are going to rise or fall. The App analyses the price history of a product and tries to make a prediction of what it will do in the future. It is another level of data sophistication.

Unfortunately, we are all being tracked by our shopping data history. Even at the supermarket the register will spit out coupons that are for products they know you have bought in the past. Every time you even browse for something on your computer, you are being tracked on some data base for marketing purposes. You might get an e-mail from a company that wants you to buy that junk from them.

Believe it or not Christmas Day was the biggest day for selling Apps. Yes, applications to load onto your new device you just got as a gift and opened up. You have just unwrapped your new Tablet or Smart Phone and immediately loaded it up. The biggest shopping season is yet to come in January when you want to redeem all your gift cards and all the junk is marked 70% off.

Here I go again fist fighting for those $200 Jordan sneakers for a lower price. I hate it all!

CHRISTMAS

The one day of the entire year when the country stops to reflect and mostly everything is closed for business. Of course there are always exceptions to the rules. Toys r Us will be open 24 hours today. We let them break the rule because at least you will be buying something for a child and children deserve the best. Children like pets, give you unconditional love and affection and we all need some of that.

It can also be the one day of the year when you really feel the need to go to a Church and write a hefty check because you feel guilty for not being there as often as you should have been there during the year. Later, after it clears and the priests have your money you realized you just made a contribution to their legal fund to pay settlements to all the pedophile acts they have done throughout their careers. The glory hole had nothing to do with the glory of worshiping our Lord and Savior the new born Jesus Christ born today.

Today we need to stop and use this day to reflect and think about our lives. Our life is like a three act play. Yes, three acts now because most of us are living an extra 30 years that humans had never experienced before. We have to constantly feel that our lives are just getting better in order to live as long as we possibly can. Love, Sex, Health, Fitness, and Friendship are the gifts of life and are what we should reflect upon on the only day of the year that most people slow down work and are able to go home and reflect on their lives.

We are born then we peak then we decline. Life should be more. We should be seeking more happiness as we get older and more confident and know ourselves and be on a constant quest for more Love, Sex, Health , Fitness and Friendship. The problem is that we are a country full of very ill people. Illness is a battle that must be conquered. Sometimes illness can cause you to see things in a new way. You can think you are broken or you can think that you have been broken open.

I personally find inspiration from the sun and nature. The news programs daily tell us of terrible things happening around the world and our finances and daily expenses rarely get better but the sun always rises therefore I must make every effort to rise too.

Stephen Hawkins the great physicist, who developed the big bang theory of evolution, has had Lou Gehrig’s Disease for 50 years. The only thing he is capable of moving now is a tiny muscle in the corner of his left eye but he has a full life. He has been married three times and is always thinking and accomplishing something. He is currently writing a book about the origin of the universe. Illness does not have to destroy you. You make adjustments. It is not about if you are well or not, or if you can move or not, it is about your attitude in coping with your illness.

A great philosopher, Victor Frankel said, “Everything can be taken from you in life except one thing. Your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation. Attitude.” The people that do the best are those who choose to forgive, you become less tense, less hostile. So to survive life you break it down into three acts representing each 30 years of your life. The first 30 years are your learning years devoted to a career and your first loves. The second act is ages 30 to 60 the hurting years where you have to mend any mistakes you made on the ladder to success and the third act begins at age 60 to 90 if you are lucky enough to reach the third act of your life, spend it reviewing the past and decide if you like who you were in life and either be proud or mend the broken relationships that might still bother you. Be at peace with yourself.

So, Merry Christmas no matter what God you believe in, what book you live by, no matter what kinds of foods you believe in. Take the day off to look in the mirror not at your acne or wrinkles or complexion. Look at that guy or girl and decide if he or she needs some work in the Love, Sex, Health, Fitness or Friendship department and do something about it .

　

Italian fashion designers are still the best to impress and with New Year’s Eve parties upon us we all need to dress the best. If you think sexy and very dressed you think of the designs that are created by Donatella Versace who is the Creative Director of the Versace Group. Her dresses have been sought after by the rich and famous and the dresses have become famous too. She is a girl from Reggio, Calabria in Italy that can bring out style that is sexual, sophisticated and sexy. What other way should a girl bring in the new year?

Some of the celebrities that wear the Versace cloths have made them more famous for wearing the designs. In 1994 Elizabeth Hurley wore the now famous safety pin dress that was completely original. It was designed by Johnny Versace and some say that Elizabeth became more famous because of that dress.

In 2000, Jennifer Lopez stunned all at the Grammy Awards when she wore the green cut down to the waist Versace dress. The following day all of the press was commenting on the sexy dress that made Jennifer more famous than some of the Awards that were given out. That one was designed by Donatella.

Although most of the women modeling her collections are very thin, Donatella offers plus size versions of her dresses. What could be better than a renaissance woman that is voluptuous and very sexy. Then you can take any woman to a black tie event and be proud to be with them especially if they are to be noticed for their beauty and elegance. She says that women designers are better than men in a way because women know their bodies better than men.

Donatella realizes that all women do not possess a model type body. She says that she wouldn’t have a business if she did not offer clothing that could enhance the curves of many types of woman’s bodies. Women come in many shapes and sizes and it is key to emphasize the best in all women.

Versace is an Italian fashion brand known for its sexy designs. Donatella was just named Glamour Magazine’s one of their “Woman of the Year” for her charity work. Donatella partnered with Jet Li on the Versace One Foundation. The foundation funded children’s centers in China after the devastating 2008 earthquake. In China they put together the foundation to help the children who were orphans and had nothing. They made places where the children could sleep, eat and learn. They also provided doctors to help them after the devastating earthquake.

The Versace family had a humbled beginning. The mother was a seamstress who had a shop. Donatella’s brother Johnny founded the brand name Versace in 1978. Donatella was studying at a university in Florence at that time. Recently he was gunned down by a crazy spree killer. It was shocking and it forced Donatella to take over the company. Well she has done that and has taken it to new heights. There is also a men’s collection but I like to look at the hot women in their even hotter cloths. Leave it to the Italians past and present to make that fashion statement that makes all people say WOW lock at that! Nice.

So, the bank foreclosed and threw you out of your home and now they are destroying your home with a bulldozer creating an empty lot. Couldn’t the government at least create a program to keep you, the newly homeless person in your home? Why destroy perfectly good homes? And, where are you supposed to sleep tonight?

Well, then there goes the neighborhood because we all know that the bankers determine the value of your home by comparing it with another home like yours on the block. Because of the recession, people loosing their jobs, there is a large amount of abandoned homes. Vacant homes have been such an eye sore to some neighborhoods that one city Cleveland, Ohio had decided to find a solution by destroying the homes. This is a solution or a gross disgrace of ruining perfectly good homes!

In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, the great recession has left 1/5^th of all houses vacant. The owners walked away because they wouldn’t or the couldn’t pay a mortgage debt that was as much as twice the value of their home. Cleveland waited 4 years for home values to recover and now they have decided to face facts that the vandalized properties are bringing down the values of the few properties that are not abandoned.

Thousands of homes will be torn down because they are abandoned. A vandal can get about one dollar a pound to recycle vinyl siding and copper pipes .Some of the homes are completely gutted out due to vandalism? Where are the police that are supposed to patrol a city’s streets against the act of vandalisms?

It is happening often in Cleveland that furnaces, fixtures, sinks, plumbing all are gone due to vandalism. Well, then that town is not even watching the places that take copper for cash. There is a failure from all paid agencies to care about anything. The people left are living paycheck to paycheck.

There is a place outside Cleveland called Cinema Park at Miles Drive that was to have been a 100 house development. During the recession the developer went broke leaving just 6 occupied homes that are surrounded by empty acres, streets that go to nowhere and fire hydrants with no buildings near by.

The Cuyahoga county sheriffs office is doing 50 evictions a month. Even people that have been in their homes for over 20 years are being evicted only to leave yet another abandoned home. Then there are the people trying to sell their homes. Well, many have been on the market for over six months with no buyers.

Many have witnessed the value of their homes decrease by as much as 50%. And ¼ th of the houses in that County have been emptied by foreclosure. What used to be vibrant healthy neighborhoods are now reduced to being empty lots.

Banks could stop the wrecking crews if they would only reduce the loan balances on underwater mortgages. They are going to have to write down principal balances. If they do not write down to something realistic, it just guarantees that more people will walk and default. Yes, it will mean losses in the million’s of dollars for the banks. Even with the losses, Someone staying could give something to the loss, and the banks can still make some revenue .

Cuyahoga County ripped down 1,000 homes this year and they have 20,000 more to go. That will cost about 150 Million dollars. It is Christmas time!!! The county would rather spend millions of dollars to destroy your home than to use those funds to help keep you in your home. This 20thCentury version of the popular classic “It’s A Wonderful Life” is a horror film.

In the old movie the bank helped the town recover, ok the film was a fictional story but our present day reality is a horror story for all.!

Guess what occupation has people where over 60% end up bankrupt, divorced and homeless by the end of their career? Answer: An American football player and the average player can earn about 20 Million dollars. It is a problem that a lot of National Football players find when they are done playing.

It probably happens somewhere to someone of all professional athletes but it happens more in the NFL. Is there a way these guys could have their money managed for them? Probably not. Their contracts are not guaranteed, they have very much shorter careers because of all the injuries a football player endures especially concussion problems.

A defensive tackle for the Detroit ,Lyons Luther Elliss is a prime example of this problem. He earned over 20 Million dollars throughout his short career and is bankrupt. Now his bank accounts have been garnished, his credit cards are denied, he has nothing and he is struggling to simply put food on his family’s table. He struggles to put gas in his car. The NFL Players Association even warned him that over 60% of the players would end up in this kind of situation and he fell victim to the over the top lifestyle that put him there.

He admits that he said, not me, I’m too smart for that, and I’m going to make so much money that I won’t be able to spend it all. Perhaps this is testimony that these guys make too much money and that the whole sports industry is wasting too much money. There are still children hungry in America where a lot of the money spent on bling could be spent on their young unjaded lives.

No association will protect these guys because it is their own carelessness that get them into financial problems. Simple rules need to be applied to their lives like do not co-sign contracts, don’t invest in some loser’s bar, or don’t invest in some obnoxious fan’s restaurant. Many players are just giving money to “investments” that they know nothing about and don’t manage.

No one can tell you how NOT to spend your money. So, they go to strip clubs and “make their money rain” where a player will go to a club armed with thousands of dollars and throw the money around for fun. Or the usual expensive cars, jewelry, beautiful women and fancy homes that will consume all your funds very quickly. Thus, too many women and too many children to support. Many guys have multiple kids born in the same year from multiple women. Wow!

Enough of this irresponsibility! Should the Players Association leadership look at the statistic and say there is enough of a pattern here and take some action and withhold some of their salary? No, that would be illegal. I think they should impose a forced retirement savings plan and a forced retirement medical insurance plan which is perfectly legal and would be supported by the dismal statistic.

All the Players Association Agents do is get these players aside and warn them of the dismal statistic and at the Rookie Symposium, they say they guide the young players but obviously they have failed to guide these young men into doing anything right. Sometimes the players who get it right end up wrong anyway. Look at the life of Tiki Barber, a running back for the New York Giants who left football to become a talk show host. While playing for the Giants, he had it all, everyone liked him and he was playing well. He was all Professional.

He doesn’t simply become a commentator as many professional players do on network shows. He decides to produce his own show during going through a bitter divorce and flamboyantly living with another woman before he is divorced thus ruining his image and ruining his new “talking” career.

Now Tiki is trying to do what no running back has ever done. He is trying to come back to the NFL after 4 years away. He is 36 years old and wants to be successful again. He suddenly ended a great career in 2007. Some football players wind up broke and some football players try to make it back into the game.

Then there are the pompous wise guys like Plaxico Burris from the New York Giants who think their shit don’t stink and they can do whatever they want because they are a football player. He was a Superbowl hero! Guys like him and Michael Vic who played for the Atlanta , Falcons believe they can randomly break laws because they are famous. Plaxico bringing guns into bars, Michael having illegal dog fights. Plaxico shot himself in the foot in a bar and caused himself to be out of the game for 2 years . These guys are guilty of showing a lack of discipline on and off the field.

These guys like Lawrence Taylor also from the New York Giants who was convicted of having sex with young teenage girls when he was long retired in his 6o’s have got to stop their evil ways. They get product endorsements to be role models for our young children. They should be forced to maintain a good role model life for the kids of America devoid of any type of illegal or promiscuous behavior. I want my son to have a football with one of these guys name on it and be proud if the kid says, “I want to be just like him when I grow up Dad”

You lost the house to foreclosure but Suze Orman advises you not to leave until the bank padlocks your home. She is a lesbian who has a life partner and is now married after a ceremony in South Africa. Even though the states have passed gay rights laws, nothing has passed on the federal level. In South Africa there is no difference in the laws whether you are straight or gay. Lately, she discusses home life and how to survive after you lost your job too.

Orman’s new show “America’s Money Class” debuts on January 9^th on the OWN channel. There she will discuss where to go and what to do. If you lost your job, what should you pay off first? There were 230,678 Foreclosure filings in October alone of this year. The occupy Wall Street Protesters are bringing their fight indoors with plans to stay in foreclosed homes.

Although unemployment fell recently from 9% to 8.6% there are too many problems still out there. Chances are that you would not be able to get another job for 2 years. You still have a mortgage payment and kids to feed. Even President Clinton said recently that until the debt problem is solved, the jobs will not come back in America.

Suze agrees with President Clinton that support must be put behind our current President because Obama is on the right tract and it might take as much as 5 years until growth can be back in this Country. Obama deserves to be reelected. Remember, Clinton was the only recent President who managed to have a balanced budget and a bit of a surplus of funds here.

It is always important to remember that the financial problems and corporate greed practices were inherited by Obama. He recently called for extending the payroll tax cut that is set to expire at this year’s end. A rich person’s life will not change significantly if they pay 100 or 200,000 dollars in taxes this year but funds like that would help the 99% of Americans who are struggling. If that tax money will help people keep their homes, keep their cars, and send their kids to school, then so be it.

Governor Cuomo of New York State is already raising the taxes on the wealthy despite opposition from the Republican Party. If that works, New York has a chance to become solvent. Suze has a show called “The Suze Orman Show” and is the author of a book called “Money Class.” What is happening to middle America effects everyone. If things are not being paid, it affects their portfolios, the value of their homes and you are loosing money even if you have a job!

The collapse of major institutions in 2008 will not be fixed until 2025! Suze wrote a book called “The 2009 Action Plan” that was written in 2008. She predicted on only page 6 of the book what we are all suffering from now in the economy. The blatant deceit , lies and greed of the banks and other institutions are bringing everyone down.

The new Occupy Homes Protestors will probably get arrested if they do that but if you own a home and go through foreclosure, you should try to stay there as long as you possibly can. You will save money if you do. It will also keep your home from being ransacked from other people that know that it is empty. The banks are probably even loving that you are staying in there because if you move out, the place will be rundown and a poor investment.

If you leave and that house is empty, if someone occupy’s that house and hurts themselves, and it hasn’t been foreclosed on yet, YOU ARE LIBEL. So, keep your house insurance in force even if you have moved out until that house is no longer in your name. The police will not come and take you out of the home. In fact the bank wants you to stay a long time to keep their soon investment looking good and not abandoned. Happy Holidays in Your Soon to be Foreclosed Home! UGH