Bad parenting pays

Britney Spears's personal largess has been a bonanza for Los Angeles area convenience stores and fast food chains -- not to mention the benefit it has had on Southern California's "underground" economy.

The troubled former pop princess's antics are also credited for keeping a certain segment of the magazine industry afloat. A grouping that now includes the venerable literary and political magazine The Atlantic, which finally ended an 150 year streak of not putting Britney Spears on the cover this month.

But the latest beneficiary of the Britney-based economy is the man who started it all: Dear old dad.

The Los Angeles Superior Court ruled Wednesday that James Spears will be paid 2,500 dollars in weekly compensation to handle his daughter's affairs. The elder Spears is also entitled to the lease of a car.

James Spears might have one daughter who is a train-wreck of epic proportions and another who is the poster child for teen pregnancy, but now, by court mandate, he is being paid to dole out his fatherly advice. So I guess it all worked out in the end.