Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Black Money and Michael Vick: 5 Lessons

Posted May 20th 2009 5:07PM by Dr. Boyce Watkins, PhD
Filed under: Money Talks

God bless Michael Vick. The man finally gets to go home, after spending 21 months in prison for the whole dogfighting situation. I was sickened by what happened to Vick for many reasons, starting with the fact that I think Michael was incredibly stupid for doing what he did. There, I said it.

Now that we all agree that killing dogs is a bad thing, let's get to the real deal. First, there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who go out and kill animals every year. So, the idea that this man was a monster for what he did is a bit overboard. Yes, killing Fluffy or Fido is certainly tougher to stomach than shooting Bambi in the woods, but the truth is that most of us are hypocritical for portraying Vick as a monster. Secondly, the idea that this man should lose his entire career because of a silly mistake he made at the age of 27 is ridiculous. So, I want to give a shout-out to my respected homeboy Roland Martin for supporting Michael Vick's right to make a living.

I wanted to chime in on the financial side of the Vick case and share 5 things that I personally learned from the Michael Vick situation. I busted my butt trying to defend Michael Vick on CNN, so I figured that I may as well take this full circle by ensuring that we all learn from his silly behavior. Our most valuable lessons usually come from our most costly mistakes, so with all that he has learned, Michael Vick should be a professor by now.

1) You never have an endless supply of money, even when you think you do. Do you remember when you got your first job and would get that $150 dollar check? Didn't it make you feel powerful, as if the money would last forever?

Continue reading Your Money with Dr. Boyce: Michael Vick's Lessons on Money

2 comments:

dredpiraterob said...

you are making the same mistake i find lots of people make about dog fighting...its not just killing an animal...its torturing the animal to death....its starving the dog so that he will be meaner and literally hungry enough to eat the other dog...its drowning dogs with your bare hands or electrocuting them to death....the kind of savagery inflicted on these animals by Vick and his co conspirators...who were just trying to please their masters...should be punished severely...that said...he did his time...and should be able to go back to work...i just wish folks like you would be as vocal about the guy who comes home for a drug crime and cant find a job as you are about this high profile animal torturer....

Anonymous said...

If you think that what Vick did was cruel, you should go and see what KFC does to chickens or what slaughter houses do to cows and pigs. It's just as bad, but we are not sending the CEOs to prison.