JACKSON CONFUSION

Michael Jackson's financial settlement last April should have been a chance for him to move ahead, with a spring in his step. Unfortunately, he seems to have neglected to pay the company who sorted out the agreement for him, and they're suing him.

And, oops, he's also not paid the lawyers defending him in that case. He claims, rather than not paying them, he's fired them.

Jackson's such a financial basket case Ocean finance could use "being Michael Jackson" as a visual metaphor for debt in its consistently inventive adverts attempting to depict the feeling of being in debt.

Just on a sidematter, we did love the banker who popped up Today this morning [Real audio link] to talk about voluntary agreements to avoid bankruptcy. He moaned that the people who arrange these agreements - which cost the banks a pretty penny - give the impression there should be no stigma involved in coming to an agreement like that, which was wrong. A couple of minutes later, though, he bristled at the suggestion that the banks are partly to blame for high debt levels because they've effectively brought about a situation where there's no shame attached to living beyond your means.

[Thanks to Jim McCabe for the link]

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