By DJ LT

For the past two weeks greed has been the topic of my column. Nothing has angered me more this year than greed, that is without question, the motivating force of most people on this island.

Of course this applies to the rest of the developed world as well. However, my father always reminds me that "charity begins at home", thus I am most concerned about my home - Bermuda. I believe that greed kills and unless we stop being so greedy, we are going to cause our economy to implode and lose everything. Just watch.

More on this after The Top 20.

Spotlight, by former American Idol songstress Jennifer Hudson, holds at number one. This chart-topper currently also sits atop hip hop and dance charts, evidence of the song's appeal within different segments of the music industry.

Up to number two is Jazmine Sullivan's new hit entitled Need You Bad.

Improving to number three is Disturbia by hot girl Rihanna. You know that you are hot when you are known by one name, like Beyonce, Rihanna, or Brazilian football player Ronaldinho.

Falling to number four is Give It To me by Madonna, a kicking dance anthem by veteran house, pop and disco diva, Madonna. Earlier this week a colleague and buddy of mine shared with me that he and his wife went to a Madonna concert last weekend.

He said it was awesome and that to explain how amazing she was, you'd have to combine Beyonce's and Alicia Keys' performances to nearly equal the show Madge put on for her fans. He said that she performed for two hours straight and in the middle was jumping rope and singing. Home girl is fit.

As an old fogey, I'm like Madonna in that I take pride in being in better shape than most people half my age. Can you imagine some of the young people of today performing at a concert for two hours straight? I think not. She is unbelievable and I guess Guy Richie just couldn't keep up with her.

Climbing to number five is The Business by Yung Berg featuring Casha, a current hip hop fave.

Slipping to number six is When I Grow Up by the Pussycat Dolls, one of the hottest, sexiest and most creative groups around.

Improving to number seven is Whatever You Like by T.I.

Up to number eight is Can't Believe It by T-Pain and Lil Wayne.

Falling to number nine is Take A Bow, a sad love story by Rihanna.

Up to number ten is She's Royal by Taurus Riley, one of the coolest reggae songs of the year and a former essential new tune.

Improving to number 11 is the new hit from Ne-Yo entitled Closer.

Up to number 12 is a kicking dance track by Natasha Beddingfield, entitled Angel.

Falling to number 13 is Defence (the anthem) by Machel Montano featuring Lil Jon and Pitbull.

Tumbling tonumber 14 is Love is Wicked (Soca Remix) by Brick and Lace featuring Kess.

Soaring to number 15 is Mrs. Officer by my namesake Lil Wayne and Bobby Valentino. This is one of the hottest songs around and was last week's essential new tune. Just turn on your radio and you will soon hear it.

Slipping to number 16 is Put On by Young Jeezy featuring Kanye West.

Falling to number 17 is Heaven Sent by Keyshia Cole, a simply beautiful song.

Now for the new music section.

Entering at number 18 is the baddest new track I have heard in ages, which is also this week's essential new tune. Get ready for this and buy the CD now. It is Jennifer Hudson's monster new hip-hop track entitled Pocketbook, a duet with Ludacris.

This is just a banging track. Jennifer Hudson's voice is simply one of the best in the business these days and Ludacris' rapping ability and style are at least as good as anyone else's today. So, this was a match made in heaven as far as collaborations go. You will like the beat, the feel, the sound and the overall melody of this track. It has an amazing effect on those of us who like good hip hop.

New at number 19 is Miss Independent by Ne-Yo a banger.

In at number 20 is Live Your Life by T.I. featuring hot girl Rihanna.

Now back to this week's word: greed.

Clearly the word is getting out. I went to church last Sunday with my son and my pastor spoke about greed. Obviously other people see the signs. My pastor asserted that greed is sin and that it is the work of the devil. I agree with him. He told a story (that I also told) about an executive who was making a ridiculous salary, something like $1 million per month. The question he asked is the same question I asked: How much money does one need to provide for their children and even for their extended family?

The salary mentioned in the story is excess and I feel no sorrow for the men and women in international business, (re)insurance and banking, who for years have been paying their executives inflated salaries and bonuses thus creating an expectation of more money and greed.

Back to my pastor's question of how much money does one need? Because the Western world is a greedy world, people spend money on fun, entertainment, toys, trips and all manner of worldly pleasures - all of which matter little in the grand scheme of things. When a person is on their death bed, they don't call for their Cartier or Rolex watch. They, without question, ask for their family and friends, which suggests that family and friends are what are really important in life.

The lessons that global international business are now learning are the same lessons that should have been learned by the Bermuda tourism industry during the 1990's and early 2000's. Although, I'm not convinced we did learn anything.

The lesson is that when things are good, you assume that business will always be good and spend, spend, spend on fun, fun, fun.

Captains of the Bermuda tourism industry during the heyday of the 1980's arrogantly thought that tourists will always come. Well, we all know how that turned out. They didn't "always" come and in fact they stopped coming!

The intelligent approach is to invest and save in solid, low or moderate risk instruments which will ensure that there is something left for the rainy days like now. Also part of that intelligent approach is to reinvest in businesses most valuable resource: its people. People make businesses successful and a wise organisation continuously invests in its staff.

Some might argue that by paying huge and inflated bonuses, they are investing in their people. I counter that whilst that perspective has some merit, a better investment would be in educating their staff, providing professional development opportunities as well as offering courses and training.

I assert that by paying staff inflated salaries and bonuses, businesses encourage greed amongst the staff. Instead of giving people large cash outlays, businesses could simply agree to pay for an employee's child's college education. This would tie the employee to the company and also provide a benefit to the family and to the community in general.

Think of the goodwill established by a company that educates the children of high performing employees! Staff would be lined up to work overtime.

Another perspective is that instead of paying inflated salaries and bonuses, successful businesses could be really good corporate citizens and spend that excess money and profit on helping poor, destitute, starving people in their community or elsewhere in the world. You can close your eyes, spin a globe and point to a country/region where aid is needed.

For the record, I completely disagree with the American government's decision to bail out struggling companies. This is a joke and is exactly the reason why George W. Bush and the Republicans need to go. I can't say that Obama would not have agreed to assist but I'm convinced that he would not have proposed the kind of bailout the US government recently gave to these companies.

But back to Bermuda. We have allowed Satan to infiltrate our families, our homes, our lives, our minds, our thinking and virtually everything that we do. Bermuda is a wasteful country. Take a tour of the Tynes Bay Incinerator Drop -Off Waste Facility or the Airport Dump and see the kinds of things that we in Bermuda throw away! There are items in perfectly good working order that poor people elsewhere would die to have. Such is our good fortune but it seems that as a country, we are not thankful to the extent that we should be.

In any event, the experts have decreed that Bermuda is now officially in a recession. Whilst this is not exactly wonderful news, it really only means that we have to cut back on the excess. Now is the time to focus on necessities. There are simple things that we can do to cut back and brace ourselves for the recession.

If you can afford to live the "bling bling" life in a recession, you can go ahead and spend like crazy. However, if you can't, your options are to decrease your spending or get a part-time job.

Here are some tips to cutting back: instead of going out to dinner every week, go out every other week or once a month. Instead of buying your children two pairs of sneakers, only purchase one pair. Instead of buying lunch every day, take a brown bag lunch or take leftovers from home. You'll be surprised how much money you can save by not buying lunch. Don't worry about stimulating spending - there are enough people on the island who will not adhere to this advice to keep all of the businesses on the island afloat during any recession. We can also save a lot of money and be kinder to the environment if we use public transportation whenever possible. Obviously in some cases it is inconvenient, however, when practical, when we can use the bus or ferry, we should do so. The other option is taking a pedal bike instead of always driving.

In any event Bermuda, brace yourselves as tough times are coming. Be warned and start preparing yourselves for many rainy days ahead. Don't say nobody warned you.

Tot siens, (goodbye in Afrikaans).