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Publisher's News Analysis: The Balling Mentality Keeps us Broke
- By Roy Douglas Malonson
- Published 11/11/2009
- Editorial and Opinion
- Unrated
Roy Douglas Malonson
Roy D. Malonson is publisher of the African-American News&Issues.
View all articles by Roy Douglas Malonson
I was disheartened but not surprised when I read about former NBA star Antoine Walker apparently blowing the $110 million he made playing basketball. According to The Boston Globe, at age 33, he owes more than $4 million to his creditors and is facing felony check fraud charges in Las Vegas.
The story, although sensational for the amount, (the average U.S. worker with a bachelor’s degree will earn $2.1 million in a lifetime) really highlights an inherent problem in the Black community. Walker whose driveway resembled a “luxury car lot — two Bentleys, two Mercedes, a Range Rover, a Cadillac Escalade, a bright red Hummer,” also collected watches such as Rolexes and diamond-encrusted Cartiers.
He’s not the first Black star or last to spend money like it was going out of style. However, I contend that his problem is symptomatic of things we see every day in our community. It only looms larger when a celebrity is involved, because generally, they tend to out earn the rest of us. However, getting paid and staying paid are two different sides of the same coin.
Unfortunately, many of us who “come from nothing,” never surround ourselves with people who “come from something.” I’m not advocating the wholesale ditching of the people you grew up with, but there’s an art when it comes to getting advice.
For example, if I’m having marital problems, I would be loathe to ask advice of someone who has never been married, or who has been married and divorced ... five times. If I find myself constantly consuming too much alcohol, the best people to encourage me to stop, may not be the winos on the corner.
But here’s the big one. If I cannot manage my money, then there’s no point in me asking you to help me if a) you don’t have any money b) your credit score is in the double digits and c) you are bouncing checks all over the county.
And that’s seem to be the management style of choice when it comes to our sports figures and entertainers. Remember former Heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield lost his $10 million estate.
His ear mate boxer Mike Tyson filed bankruptcy in 1991 although he earned hundreds of millions. Sure Michael Jackson’s “This is It,” the movie is setting box office records, but before his untimely death he was reportedly $400 million in debt.
His nemesis in the “Too Legit to Quit” video, M.C. Hammer told the United States Bankruptcy Court Central District of California that he was $13.7 million in debt and only had $9.6 million in assets. By the way, Hammer said his day to day living expenses far exceeded his $33 million income.
And we can go on and on with story after story of “stars” in similar situations all across the spectrum of sports, race and gender. I focused this article on Blacks in particular because I have a chance to see it unfold on our community’s streets every day.
If you don’t have the discipline to properly manage your finances now, how in the world do you think you will act when you finally when the lottery? Attorney Leslie Warren Cross, Jr. of Houston said many entertainers, wooed by the siren’s song of “Big Money,” come to him for advice after they’ve blindly made the mistake of signing on with a record label.
He points out the ignorance (no insult; just lack of knowledge) that prevails in the mind set of the entertainment field of people with plenty of talent but without common sense. But I am going to go further.
No matter what your field of employment is, how are you doing in your financial matters? Before you make excuses or try to double talk me with matters that doesn’t make any sense at all, let me cut to the chase.
How much money have you saved? Hmmm.
You see it really doesn’t matter what you do—, janitor, retail clerk, hamburger flipper, garbage worker, etc. It really doesn’t matter what you make, it’s what you do with what you make that counts. I for one believe our community as a whole, can do a lot better.
The story, although sensational for the amount, (the average U.S. worker with a bachelor’s degree will earn $2.1 million in a lifetime) really highlights an inherent problem in the Black community. Walker whose driveway resembled a “luxury car lot — two Bentleys, two Mercedes, a Range Rover, a Cadillac Escalade, a bright red Hummer,” also collected watches such as Rolexes and diamond-encrusted Cartiers.
He’s not the first Black star or last to spend money like it was going out of style. However, I contend that his problem is symptomatic of things we see every day in our community. It only looms larger when a celebrity is involved, because generally, they tend to out earn the rest of us. However, getting paid and staying paid are two different sides of the same coin.
Unfortunately, many of us who “come from nothing,” never surround ourselves with people who “come from something.” I’m not advocating the wholesale ditching of the people you grew up with, but there’s an art when it comes to getting advice.
For example, if I’m having marital problems, I would be loathe to ask advice of someone who has never been married, or who has been married and divorced ... five times. If I find myself constantly consuming too much alcohol, the best people to encourage me to stop, may not be the winos on the corner.
But here’s the big one. If I cannot manage my money, then there’s no point in me asking you to help me if a) you don’t have any money b) your credit score is in the double digits and c) you are bouncing checks all over the county.
And that’s seem to be the management style of choice when it comes to our sports figures and entertainers. Remember former Heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield lost his $10 million estate.
His ear mate boxer Mike Tyson filed bankruptcy in 1991 although he earned hundreds of millions. Sure Michael Jackson’s “This is It,” the movie is setting box office records, but before his untimely death he was reportedly $400 million in debt.
His nemesis in the “Too Legit to Quit” video, M.C. Hammer told the United States Bankruptcy Court Central District of California that he was $13.7 million in debt and only had $9.6 million in assets. By the way, Hammer said his day to day living expenses far exceeded his $33 million income.
And we can go on and on with story after story of “stars” in similar situations all across the spectrum of sports, race and gender. I focused this article on Blacks in particular because I have a chance to see it unfold on our community’s streets every day.
If you don’t have the discipline to properly manage your finances now, how in the world do you think you will act when you finally when the lottery? Attorney Leslie Warren Cross, Jr. of Houston said many entertainers, wooed by the siren’s song of “Big Money,” come to him for advice after they’ve blindly made the mistake of signing on with a record label.
He points out the ignorance (no insult; just lack of knowledge) that prevails in the mind set of the entertainment field of people with plenty of talent but without common sense. But I am going to go further.
No matter what your field of employment is, how are you doing in your financial matters? Before you make excuses or try to double talk me with matters that doesn’t make any sense at all, let me cut to the chase.
How much money have you saved? Hmmm.
You see it really doesn’t matter what you do—, janitor, retail clerk, hamburger flipper, garbage worker, etc. It really doesn’t matter what you make, it’s what you do with what you make that counts. I for one believe our community as a whole, can do a lot better.