As Carmelo ponders shut-down, comically shorthanded Knicks fall again

Two 10-game losing streaks in the span of six weeks. A record of 5-30. So you say to yourself, "Well, at least it can't get any worse for the Knicks."

Sure it can. There are additional suggestions of shutting down Carmelo Anthony for an extended period.

At some point, they may even look to pull the plug on Anthony's season, although it is not at that position — yet.

The Knicks on Friday put out a starting lineup of Jose Calderon, Pablo Prigioni, J.R. Smith, Jason Smith and Cole Aldrich, their 18th different starting alignment this season. No Anthony (left knee). No Amar'e Stoudemire (right knee). No Samuel Dalembert (right ankle). No Tim Hardaway Jr. (concussion). No Iman Shumpert (left shoulder).

Then — no joke — after he played 1:47 of his second game of the season, no Andrea Bargnani (right calf). With six men infirm, it became, "Nine men, one catastrophe."

And two 10-game losing streaks. The woefully shorthanded Knicks lost for the 20th time in 21 games as the Pistons, they of the haughty 9-23 record, battered their way to a 97-81 victory at the Garden, where the boos started early.

The Knicks Season to Fold, Staple, Mutilate and Burn continued as Detroit forged a 33-18 second quarter. And that was before the Knicks missed their first 11 shots in the third quarter, when Brandon Jennings scored 16 of his 29 points for the Pistons. The Knicks were in their usual catch-up mode and because someone had to, J.R. Smith led them in scoring with 22 points.

The biggest focus always settles on Anthony, who has battled a troublesome knee all season. Friday's game was only the third he has missed because of the knee (he sat two other games with back spasms).

Coach Derek Fisher said the team would "huddle" up with Anthony to discuss when — or even if — he would return.

"Everybody involved is reasonable enough and smart enough as people in this business to come together on that if that time comes," Fisher said before the game. "Everybody's smart enough to realize, calendar-wise, timing-wise, that there may come a point that's the decision that needs to be made, but that we can't force Carmelo to that point just yet."

The Knicks play Sunday, then hit the road for two games, all part of a rough five-games-in-seven-days stretch that began with Detroit. The understanding has been that it will be Anthony's call.

"There's a balance between a player and his health and the part that he plays in the decision-making process and then where we are a team and giving our thoughts and our opinion to it. We can't unilaterally just say 'Hey, you know, you can't play for the rest of the season because of A, B and C,' " Fisher said. "As each day kind of unfolds, decisions are being made. It's not something that we're just stepping back and saying, 'Carmelo, you kind of tell us when you don't feel like playing anymore.' "

Fisher noted the "intense" week schedule-wise.

"We'll … kind of make some decisions from there, but like we talked about, there definitely will come a time at some point where there will have to be a conversation about a longer space for him possibly, but it's not there at this point," Fisher said.

Not yet.

Players have spoken about staying positive, which amid this nightmare is asking for service above and beyond.

"It's crazy," Calderon said.

"I've never seen anything like this anywhere," said rookie Cleanthony Early (right knee surgery), who suited up for the first time since Nov. 14.

As for Stoudemire, he sat a fourth straight game after a bad reaction to the long flight home from the West Coast. Fisher said "inflammation … happens on flights in particular when you have something going on already."

Dalembert sat his third straight game, Shumpert his 10th. Hardaway sat after being injured New Year's Eve. Then Bargnani went out.

Detroit coach/president Stan Van Gundy had cautioned an Anthony-less team made the Knicks dangerous. Honest, he said so with a straight face.

"Scares the hell out of me quite honestly," Van Gundy said. "These guys watch Carmelo take the most shots by far every single night and now it's their chance to play. It's an energized team."

His fear was unfounded.

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Man caught stealing $80k worth of jewelry

A man who swiped $80,000 of jewels from a Diamond District shop earlier this week was caught on surveillance video, police said.

The suspect had walked into the Diamonds by Siag store at 12 West 47th Street on Monday shortly before 1:30 p.m. and told an employee he had something on layaway, according to a police source.

While the employee was busy looking for the imaginary layaway item, the man reached over the counter and grabbed a tray full of diamond earrings and fled.

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Rikers Island inmate dies after suicide watch ignored

A mentally ill inmate who apparently hanged himself on New Year's Day in a Rikers Island jail cell was supposed to be placed on suicide watch, but it wasn't implemented, two city officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

A jail psychiatrist who saw Fabian Cruz on Wednesday at a clinic ordered that Cruz be transferred to a special observation unit in a different Rikers facility where he'd be placed under constant watch, but Cruz told a guard at the clinic he didn't want to go and he was transferred back to his jail cell, the officials said.

Letting Cruz go back to his cell was a violation of Department of Correction protocol because inmates don't get to decide where they're housed, said one of the officials, who both spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation into what happened.

The guard also was supposed to contact a supervising captain after the suicide watch was ordered but didn't, the official said.

Cruz, 35, was discovered Thursday evening and was pronounced dead by a jail doctor. The correction officer at the clinic has been placed on modified duty.

In October, city officials announced they'd secured a $400,000 federal grant to review suicides and other self-harm in jails to identify systemic breakdowns that cause them and to prevent more.

That announcement followed a June report by the AP that found, based on city and state investigative documents, that in nine of the 11 inmate suicides since 2009 established protocols designed to prevent vulnerable inmates form hurting themselves weren't followed.

Autopsy results are pending in Cruz's case, but the officials said his death appeared to be suicide by hanging. A spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office said the cause and manner of his death hadn't been determined.

A Department of Correction spokesman said only that Cruz's death in the Robert N. Davoren Center was being investigated as a possible suicide.

Cruz had pleaded guilty to burglary and criminal sexual act for abusing his girlfriend's teenage daughter starting when she was 14 years old between November 2009 and October 2012, court records show.

He was awaiting sentencing Jan. 15 to five years in prison upstate and would have had to register as a sex offender, prosecutors said.

A message left with Cruz's attorney wasn't immediately returned.

Jerome Anthony Murdough poses for a photo while serving in the US Marine Corps. Murdough died in February at Rikers where he was left unchecked in an overheated jail cell.Photo: AP

The head of the powerful city correction officers' union, Norman Seabrook, said the guard had been on the job for three years and had never worked with mentally ill inmates.

"She'll be the scapegoat for management on this, and that's unfair," Seabrook said.

The city's jail system has come under increased scrutiny in the past year since the AP first reported the deaths of two seriously mentally ill inmates at Rikers — one who died of hyperthermia in a sweltering jail cell and another who sexually mutilated himself while locked up alone for seven straight days.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, serving his first term, has vowed reforms.

Last month, federal prosecutors investigating guard brutality at Rikers against teenage inmates joined a federal lawsuit alleging widespread violence against inmates by guards throughout Rikers to speed up the pace of those reforms.

Advocates and former health officials have long said inmate suicides are a result of miscommunication and tension between the two agencies responsible for inmates: health officials who evaluate inmate health care and jail guards who are responsible for their control.

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Devils still stuck in doldrums after loss to Canadiens

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January 2, 2015 | 10:24pm

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The Canadiens' Michael Bournival scores past Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid on Friday night. Photo: AP

Michael Bournival scored his first two goals of the season and Carey Price made 22 saves on a personal milestone night as the Canadiens extended their winning streak to five with a 4-2 victory over the Devils on Friday at Prudential Center.

The Devils are headed in the opposite direction. They have only two wins in their past 12 games (2-7-3). Rookie goalie Keith Kinkaid made 22 stops. Michael Ryder got a goal in his return after missing three games with the mumps. Mike Cammalleri also scored for the Devils.

Price got his 200th victory in his 400th game as Montreal won for the eighth time in the past nine games. Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec also scored for the Canadiens while P.K. Subban had three assists.

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Nets do brief disappearing act, but recover to down Magic

ORLANDO, Fla. — What once looked as if it would be a comfortable, confidence-boosting win for the Nets over the Magic turned into a harrowing nail-biter.

After sporting a 26-point lead late in the third quarter and a 24-point advantage early in the fourth, the Nets gave virtually all of it back, but managed to make enough free throws down the stretch to emerge with a 100-98 victory in front of a sparse crowd at the cavernous Amway Center.

Orlando's rally got to the point at which the Magic had clawed back to within 98-95 with 29.3 seconds left and had possession of the ball after going on a 24-3 run.

But Evan Fournier's potential game-tying 3-point try from the top of the key rimmed out, and after the ensuing loose ball went out of bounds off Orlando, the Nets came away with the win.

When Alan Anderson's corner 3-pointer off a pass from Deron Williams went down with 8:16 remaining in the fourth quarter, it looked to be the capper to a terrific victory for the Nets (17-17), one that would get them back to .500 and run their current win streak to three in a row and six in their last seven games.

Instead, Anderson's jumper turned out to be the second-to-last basket the Nets made, as the Magic (13-23) scored the next 16 points in a row before a Mason Plumlee reverse layup finally broke the scoreless drought for the Nets at nearly six minutes and made it 97-89 with 2:22 remaining.

But the Magic immediately responded with back-to-back 3-pointers from Channing Frye and Fournier to cut the Nets' lead to 97-93 with 1:40 remaining, setting up a far more frantic finish than anyone imagined just a few minutes earlier.

Over the next minute, Williams made one of two free throws and Sergey Karasev missed a pair for the Nets, while rookie guard Elfrid Payton made two out of four for the Magic, cutting the Nets' lead to 98-95 with just over a minute remaining. Orlando got the ball back with a chance to tie after Joe Johnson missed on a jumper with 41 seconds remaining.

But after Ben Gordon missed a jumper led to a jump ball that Plumlee tapped out of bounds, giving the Magic yet another chance to tie the game, Fournier's 3-pointer went long, Johnson knocked down a pair of free throws to make it a two-possession game and the Nets managed to escape.

Plumlee led the Nets with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Brook Lopez had 16 points and eight rebounds and Williams had 16 points and seven assists.

Victor Oladipo led the Magic with 17 points, while Payton had 16 points and 10 assists.

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Nets on a tear since their youngest player began starting

Sergey Karasev got the word he would be starting for the first time as a Net back on Dec. 10. Naturally, it was what he wanted. And naturally it scared the daylights out of him.

"I was shaking a little bit before the game," Karasev said after practice Thursday, recalling how he wanted to "put all my energy on the court and just do what I can do, try nothing special.

"I told myself I should just play my game, try to be aggressive on defense and smart on offense," Karasev said. "I just did those things and after first couple minutes all the pressure was gone."

So the 21-year-old wing, the youngest Net (at 18 for bronze medalist Russia, the youngest basketball player in the 2012 Olympics), will start for the 12th time when the Nets try to reach .500 on Friday in Orlando, Fla. The 15-16 Nets last saw .500 at 4-4 in mid-November — when Karasev was hoping for his chance.

In early December, the Nets were struggling as a team. Bojan Bogdanovic as an individual was struggling. Coach Lionel Hollins started Karasev — whom ownership (connect your Russian dots) had hoped to draft in 2013. Since then, Karasev has been a regular starting fixture, except for one injury-related game.

In his 11 starts, the Nets are 7-4 and Karasev has averaged 8.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.9 turnovers and shot .405 (.323 on 3s). OK, not numbers to warrant Springfield, but he's 21 and still developing after a brutal rookie year in Cleveland.

"It was really hard, especially when you're a European player and you come here. You have big minutes overseas and play like 30-35 minutes a game, you're a main presence," said Karasev who played 22 games last season with the Cavs, who drafted him No. 19 and then used him for 17 minutes, 40 seconds in their final 45 games. "It's very tough mentally."

But Karasev kept telling himself, work hard in practice, wait for a chance.

His biggest chance came when the Cavs dumped salary to sign LeBron James. Karasev and Jarrett Jack came to the Nets.

"This is a long season, 82 games you should be ready every time you put the Brooklyn Nets jersey on. This is every tough league. Injuries, anything can happen," Karasev said.

Finally a starting call happened.

"Sergey has a really good feel for the game. He knows how to play," Deron Williams said. "He plays well off the ball, can pass, knows when to cut, works hard. He's really surprised me a lot, how far he's come since training camp. He was really — I don't want to say timid but … not aggressive and now he's being aggressive. He's playing great."

Hollins was asked what he has seen in Karasev.

"He's shown me that he's 6-7 and he's from Russia," Hollins said.

Add an inch and that could be Mikhail Prokhorov.

"I see a kid that is a good basketball player. He's got good length and he doesn't just stand on the 3-point line. [He] makes plays and he's been playing pretty good. I like his anticipation on defense," Hollins said. "He's a good basketball player, he makes plays, anticipates. … He'll go get a steal, he'll go get a rebound. When it looks like they're gonna get it all of a sudden he's getting that rebound. Those are the types of little things that help you win."

All that is what Karasev hopes to provide. He wants only to be a part of winning, to continually grow. He got his chance. Now he wants to keep contributing in any way, much like his idol, another lefty: San Antonio's Manu Ginobili.

"He's my favorite player. When he came here, I can't say he was a big star. But because of his work he became one of the main guys in San Antonio, one of the three who win a lot of championships. He's just a high IQ basketball player who every time plays hard," Karasev said. "That is the way. Every day you should improve everything."

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TPG’s 2015 IPO plans hit fundraising snag

Private equity mogul David Bonderman hopes to take his TPG Capital public in the second half of 2015 — but a difficult fundraising may stop his plans, two sources close to the firm said.

Going public this year is a "mission critical event," a source said.

That contrasts with what Bonderman has said publicly including in September when he told Reuters he was cautious about the possibility of bringing TPG public.

TPG — with $65 billion in assets — believes it can attract a roughly $6 billion valuation, the source said. The Blackstone Group, in comparison, has a $39 billion market cap, KKR $19 billion, and Apollo Global Management $9 billion.

But to be able to reach a $6 billion valuation, Bonderman and other TPG brass believe the PE giant needs its next fund — its seventh — to raise $10 billion, sources said.

While TPG has been fundraising for a little more than a year, attracting investors has been harder than expected, sources said.

TPG has only been able to round up $3.5 billion (when including a $2 billion bridge fund that will be rolled into the vehicle) due to the firm's poor recent track record, a source said.

Another few billion is expected to come in over the next month, the source added.

"The plan was to go public in the third quarter, but Bonderman is worried that may slip if the progress on raising fund seven is poor," a source noted.

The firm, with its rich history, raised $15 billion in its fifth fund in 2006. But it has had some embarrassing losses since then. For example, it lost $1.37 billion of equity in Texas utility Energy Future Holdings — and its biggest investment, $1.7 billion, is in Caesars Entertainment, which plans this month to put its largest unit in bankruptcy, a TPG investor said.

Overall, the 2006 fund has posted a 6 percent annual return through June 30, according to an investor. But most of that is estimated gains since it has returned only $8 billion back to investors, the investor added.

Bonderman is enticing investors — often state pensions — by giving them a chance, too, to be in a separate $3 billion growth fund, a source said.

The more successful growth fund was an early investor in fast-growing Uber and Airbnb.

"I do think they can hit $10 billion," one source said, pointing out the fact that PE investors are starting to get record amounts of capital back from earlier PE investments and need to reinvest the money.

Nonetheless, Bonderman is said to be anxious because he wants to cash out some of his stake at TPG.

In the past, Bonderman, 72, and firm co-founder James Coulter, 54, disagreed on the move, one source added — with Bonderman long a proponent of the move while Coulter has been hesitant.

Bonderman has made news in recent years for hiring entertainment legends like The Rolling Stones, Robin Williams, The Who, John Fogerty and Paul McCartney to play at his birthday parties and corporate events.

Pulling off the $10 billion fund and partially cashing out of TPG would make Bonderman a legend in his own right — and it would certainly free up more time to catch a few of his favorite bands' concerts.

A TPG spokeswoman declined comment.

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Hondo eyes playoff payoff

Hondo wrapped up the regular season with a disastrous 5-10-1 performance that caused him to finish below the .500 mark. For that he can point a finger directly at Cincinnati, which, with a cover in hand in Pittsburgh Sunday night, fumbled it away in true Bengwad style.

But that's enough about 2014. Now that the ball has dropped and everyone has dropped the ball on his or her resolutions, it's time to shift focus from hangovers to turnovers and make some wise investments in playoff pigskin futures.

Cardinals-Panthers: The knee-jerk play is the Panthers, who have won their last four, while the Cardinals have lost four of their last six. And granted, quarterback Ryan Lindley, a journeyman, ultimately will be responsible for Arizona having a rough journey, man. Nevertheless, the Cardinals play a manly enough defense to keep it within the hefty number against the Panthers' plodding offense. Expect the Cats to nip 'em, 17-16.

Ravens-Steelers: In their last three games, the Ravens had to rally in the second half to beat the Jaguars, were beaten by the immortal Case Keenum and the Texans and needed a fourth-quarter comeback against the immortal Connor Shaw and the Browns to pull a wild card out of the deck. The Steelers, meanwhile, roll into the playoffs with four straight wins. Le'Veon Bell's possible absence won't keep the Ben Roethlisberger-to-Antonio Brown connection from getting the Steelers off to a fast start, which will make it an easy ride. After all, as everyone knows, it's tough to play catchup at Heinz. Steelers, 23-19.

Bengals-Colts: They don't call him "One-And-Done" Dalton for nothing. A fourth straight quick exit awaits in Indianapolis, where the Bengwads, who had the league's least number of sacks appeal, will provide Andrew Luck plenty of time to scan and deliver to T.Y. Hilton, Reggie Wayne and Coby Fleener. The Colts' underrated defense may not blank the 'Wads as it did Oct. 19, but with A.J. Green still woozy, a 24th straight year of playoff futility awaits Cincinnati. Can't argue with history; if you put your postseason cash on Dalton, you will be in the red. Colts, 31-23.

Lions-Cowboys: It's a numbers game — the Lions haven't won a playoff game since 1991, while Matt Stafford, for his career, is 0-for-17 on the road against teams that finished with a winning record. And it looks like their number is up again, unless Ndamukong Suh and Dominic Raiola can turn Jerry's Place into Stomper Room early on and get rid of some key Cowboys. Barring that, the Cowboys will roll as the playoff wheels come off Detroit again. Dallas 38-13.

BTW: Now that Suh has gotten over on the NFL by claiming his feet were numb and he didn't realize he twice stepped on Aaron Rodgers' ankle, he wants to appeal his $30,000 fine for kicking Matt Schaub on Thanksgiving in 2012. Suh now contends his foot was numb that day, too, and he merely was trying to warm it up in Schaub's crotch.

In other areas of import to HondoNation:

Mayor de Blasio and police reps met this week in an attempt to smooth over their rocky relationship, though cops said the mayor seemed disengaged. Red Billy explains that's because he is still drowsy from attending midnight services at St. Patrick's on Christmas Eve, further proof, he insists, that uncle Karl was right — religion is the opiate of the masses.

Let's try not to be too tough on the mayor in 2015. After all, Hizzoner is merely carrying out the wishes of Hizzowner, Al Sharpton.

The Jets reportedly are enthused at the possibility of hiring ex-Bills coach Doug Marrone, who had a 15-17 record with no playoff appearances in two years in Buffalo — seems like a perfect fit for Gang Green. By the way, Rex Ryan is scheduled to meet next week with the 49ers, or as he likes to call them, the Feety-niners.

Pakistan officials reportedly were upset with "Homeland" for its depiction as a country that protects terrorists. They might have a point. Other than Osama bin Laden, and all those who have been taken out by U.S. drones and will be taken out in the future, what terrorists have they harbored? What they should be upset about is the show's godawful season-ending episode.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and President Barack ObamaPhoto: Reuters

Governor Christie is unhappy with Obama for not getting convicted cop-killer Joanne Chesimard extradited in the deal with the Castro brothers. To show he means business, Christie has canceled all future Jersey Shore hugs with the President.

Two from BarkingMut of SoBe, the HondoNation Southeast Bureau Chief: Sony officials, attempting to capitalize on their recent IT system disaster, say they have a new TV series in production about entertainment executives trying to save their careers after the exposure of racist emails. It will be titled "Hack-ish." … Chiefs' LB Justin Houston, who missed breaking Michael Strahan's single-season record by half a sack, would have easily shattered it if Brett Favre were playing QB for the Chargers last Sunday.

Props to "Sunday Night Football" for becoming the first fall show to finish No. 1 in prime-time ratings for five straight years. Oddly enough, the five-year time frame coincides precisely with the removal from the show of Keith "Gasbag" Olbermann, aka Uberdork.

According to a Quinnipiac poll, 37 percent of N.Y. voters said they would rather spend New Year's Eve with Hillary Clinton than other N.Y. political figures. That's entirely understandable. It would be worth it just to be part of the great NYE custom in Chappaqua: Watching the Pantsuit drop at midnight. … De Blasio received but 8 percent of the votes, which also is understandable. As emauler Ed Buckmir points out: Who wants to be with someone who'd rather be in Red Square than Times Square?

Hasbro is offering to replace the "extruder tool" in its Play-Doh Cake toy because it looked like a phallus. Apparently, it is confusing for the children, who keep looking in vain for the hot dog rolls.

Rumor has it Odell Beckham Jr., in addition to working out in the offseason, wants to get into acting and will be starring in an off-Broadway production of "Show Boat." … On his 63-yard TD catch and run against the Eagles, Beckham backed into the end zone, fired the ball against the wall, and then made the sign of the cross. Lest he be viewed as a hypocrite, someone should teach OBJ the famous Bible verse: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not taunt.

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Bill Ackman taking Herbalife fight to Hispanic community

Activist Bill Ackman is starting the new year off with a bang.

For the first time in his more than two-year campaign against Herbalife, the billionaire investor will take his argument directly to the Hispanic community he believes is being defrauded by the diet-shake company.

Ackman, who now has a $2 billion bet that Herbalife is a pyramid scheme, will be the key speaker at a town hall meeting in Chicago on Jan. 12 sponsored by the League of United Latin American Citizens, also a critic of Herbalife.

"He is our brother in the struggle," said LULAC's Julie Contreras, the activist who is organizing the event.

Contreras has helped 21 Hispanics file complaints against Herbalife with the Illinois Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission Representatives from the Illinois AG's office and the FTC, both of which are investigating Herbalife, are also slated to appear on the panel, which will focus on frauds targeting Latinos.

Ackman's presence at the event, to be held at a local church, is likely to be controversial.

Although LULAC and Ackman agree on Herbalife, they've kept their distance from each other. Ackman's Pershing Square hedge fund had donated $10,000 to the group a few months before the Herbalife battle erupted. Both parties claimed it was a fluke, and LULAC gave the money back.

Since then, Herbalife, which denies being a pyramid, has donated some $40,000 to LULAC members around the country. The national office of LULAC demanded they return it, but Contreras said not all have done so.

Contreras, an unpaid volunteer, acknowledged Ackman has a financial stake in the Herbalife outcome. "But we have the same agenda, and that is to remove something that is harming our nation and our community," she said.

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A ‘demoted’ Lloyd Blankfein and other hopes for the New Year

Everyone who writes a column and still has a smidgen of brain power left at this time of year makes predictions for the New Year. But nobody ever says what they "hope" will happen.

So that's what I am going to do today.

I'll skip the standard "Peace on Earth" or even "Hope the Mets Win the 2015 Series."

After all, you can't hope for the impossible.

But I do hope the Federal Reserve knows what it is doing, although I doubt it.

And I hope Fed Chair Janet Yellen and her crew of gibberish-smiths don't use the wrong phrase in one of their statements following a policy meeting and send the world financial markets spinning out of control.

I also hope that a food scientist somewhere in the developed world discovers in 2015 that French fries are really healthy vegetables. That'll get me off the hook for all my years of anti-vegetarianism.

I also hope that's an actual word in the English language — or some other tongue. (And, yes, I realize gibberish-smiths isn't.)

And I hope Goldman Sachs finally gets tired of running the US and gives the country back to our politicians in Washington (or, preferably, someone with a talent for running a nation) — although I think Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein is probably having too much fun to do that.

I also hope Hollywood makes at least a few movies this year that aren't "based on a true story."

Call me a traditionalist, but it would be nice once in a while if screenwriters used their imaginations.

When a movie is based on a true event, I'd like there to be a rule that they have to say what percentage is made up. Like, "the movie you are about to see is 51 percent true and 49 percent Hollywood BS."

And if any NFL team decides to sign Ray Rice next season — and I think one will — I hope his checks are sent directly to his wife, Janay. Then she can push him around for a while. "Please, Janay, I need my allowance!"

If bitcoin decides to host a college football bowl game in 2015, as it recently did in St. Petersburg, Fla., I hope the sponsors try to pay the teams, the vendors and the workers in the digital currency. Then we will hopefully see just how much confidence people don't have in the fake money.

And I hope one of the Kardashian sisters will take her husband's name. Kim West is a lot easier to spell. Unfortunately, it's also probably easier to remember.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West at LAX.Photo: X17

When guests come on TV talk shows, I hope the shows' producers this year are kind enough to tell me at the bottom of the screen who the person is. Call me out-of-touch, but I don't know who 90 percent of these "celebrities" are — and I don't think you do either.

And gasoline prices — I hope they continue to fall but don't go down so much that they cause disruptions in already disrupted parts of the world that depend on America's obsession with carbon fuel.

Speaking of which, I hope GM decides to really fix the damned ignition on my car — and millions of others — before I need to scratch my knee again. The last time I scratched it I jostled the key and completely shut off the engine.

And I hope people won't buy GM cars until the company stops pretending to have that dangerous situation under control.

Interest rates will hopefully stay low enough to allow the maximum number of Americans to buy a house. But I hope rates rise enough so that the evil, secret tax on savers will end.

I also fervently hope that the Federal government has a plan to finance its massive deficit when borrowing costs go back to normal levels.

I hope the McRib is declared an endangered species of fast food and McDonald's is ordered to protect it on its menu year round.

And I hope the US economy truly starts to blossom in 2015, so that elected officials, Wall Street pundits and myopic financial journalists can finally stop pretending that it already is.

As part of that hopefulness, I hope everyone can find a job who wants one.

Lastly, I hope you all have a Happy New Year and that 2015 proves to be a very productive year for you.

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