Earlier in the week, the media frenzy on television news over the passing of another famous personality in the world of music escalated to new heights.

Talking heads trying to outdo one another with sincerity plaudits, media "drop the voice to the sympathetic range".

Competing to be the first to introduce new original information including interviewing dogs sitting outside the neighbours' house (just kidding) because everyone else who truly knew him has refused to comment, media "switch voice to one of concern while looking sincerely and directly into the camera". Witness the young man in happier times elatedly dancing to one of his joyful songs, media "show sad smile, drop the voice and play it serious". All these exaggerated emotions, we understand, are difficult to do when your eyes and forehead are frozen - starstruck - wide - open.

In the inevitable simple cycle of life, a man has died. He has left behind small children, a mother (no mom should lose her child no matter the age), family, and friends to grieve his physical absence. Millions more mourn the death of a phenomenal musical talent, "a human being reminding us of a falling star; one of a million lights in a vast sky that flares up for a brief moment only to disappear into the endless night forever." - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

It is all so predictable, a media circus so carnivorous in its voracious hysteria that saturation is quickly reached, the image of the man obscured by the future profit potential. One perky young TV thing chirped that Los Angeles was so busy, what with all the fans interrupting their lives to pay tribute while buying souvenirs, eating in restaurants, staying at hotels, it had become the Michael Jackson Economic Stimulus package.

Yes, this is true. Is this what it is really about? Worth more dead than alive, the magic of this money making machine will live on because there is so much money still to be made. Sound bites burbling on about 30 percent of ticket holders keeping them as mementoes, more than 100 hours of rehearsal footage enough for a TV special, recordings, tributes, visions of large cash flows and barely concealed greed lurking below the surface. Talk of a perpetual monument enshrined within Neverland. So much ambitious enterprise alongside so much grief, even the City of Los Angeles requested donations to pay for the funeral. Lordy, what were they thinking?

Maybe us plain folk just don't understand such excess: after all, this is show business; this is different; maybe this is normal. What do we know about branding and marketing and promotion? Well, we know what happened with brandification of Elvis' memory.

From a very early age, it seems he generated the cash. His magic persona eventually encompassing a vast industry, the cost of which rested entirely on his shoulders. How did he cope every day with what appears to be a massive suffocating burden - everyone in his entourage relying on him to carry on. His world seemed so rarified and remote to those on the outside. One wonders if he had enough real friends; the kind you can rely on; the kind you can trust implicitly; the kind with no ulterior motive except friendship. It had to have been extraordinarily difficult to find reality and real people in such an atmosphere.

When money is no object, the object loses value. So much has been said about the excesses of this life, spending patterns so outsize that it is hard to comprehend, yet still leaving behind a mountain of debt. But, when you want everyone to be happy and the money is there, it is easy to spend for value.

And now, the estate is left, along with those who truly cared. Asset valuations will drag on, hopefully, some estate planning was implemented. There are issues of custody, bequests, revelations, surrogates' rights, intellectual property rights, creditors, bankers; this has it all, in complete Hollywood style. There will be inevitable lawsuits, counter lawsuits, probably settled later rather than sooner. In the endless recounting about this man's musical genius status in history, let's not forget that money is being made at every turn of every phrase echoed, and printed in public domain.

The children, always a living legacy, may they get on as only children can, with amazing resilience, fortitude and optimism in life.

In the end, his passing will probably generate a perpetual annuity just like Elvis's estate did 30 years gone and counting. The creditors will be repaid, the promoters will launch endless memorials, and the attorneys will have lengthy billing hours to bolster their firms' revenue in the worst recession in seventy years.

Yes, indeed, the chirpy newscaster was right; this is the Michael Jackson personal economic stimulus package, a last gift for Los Angeles. I hope the city shows some gratitude.

Ancient Egyptians believed that upon death they would be asked two questions and their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey in the afterlife. The first question was, "Did you bring joy?" The second was, "Did you find joy?" - Leo Buscaglia, author of Love

Mr. Jackson did bring joy to millions.

The world hopes that he has found joy and everlasting peace at last.

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