Michael Jackson's funeral: The bill comes due and LA is begging

In the aftermath of the Michael Jackson funeral, Los Angeles has learned a painful truth: burying a legend isn't cheap. Already caught in a $320 million budget gap, the city is now scrambling to make up the estimated $1.4 million that it spent on police, traffic control, cleanup, and other costs.

In an interesting attempt to put a happy spin on the matter, the mayor's office adopted what might be called the Hank Paulson fundraising strategy, stating that the massive public expenditures for the funeral were "far less" than the $4 million originally anticipated.