Jackson memorial costs LA $1.4 million it doesn't have to spend. Was it worth it?

In the end, 31.1 million people watched the Michael Jackson memorial on TV, more than the 29 million who tuned in to the American Idol finale but less than the 38 million who watched President Barack Obama's inauguration. A full accounting of the Internet and worldwide TV audience is not yet available, so you know millions more were watching at some point in the day.

Not so many showed up in person, however, which is a good thing for the financially strapped city of Los Angeles. Gearing up for 250,000 fans outside the Staples Center and Forest Lawn cemetery, the city estimated it would cost $4 million to pay mostly for overtime for police to secure the area. About 1,000 fans showed up outside, and the cost instead turned out to be $1.4 million for police pay, traffic control, and other services. But the debt-ridden city still doesn't have that reduced amount lying around to pay the overtime salaries. The state of California is writing IOUs, Los Angeles is a half-billion dollars in debt and facing layoffs, so look for the city to be trying to legally force other groups, including AEG Live, the owner-operator of the Staples Center where the memorial was held, to foot the bill.

Fans have been asked to chip in by donating via a Web page, but tech troubles with the site have hampered donations, which so far total about $17,000.

We are still reeling from what a huge media phenom the memorial turned out to be, not to mention some of the more unsettling moments from the event. But it seems paying for the televised memorial will go on long after the adoring Staples Center crowd has dispersed. Was it worth it?

Read on for another look at the money spent on the memorial and financial lessons we can take away from MJ's troubled life.