Porn seeks a bailout
Why stimulating the sex-film industry isn’t so ridiculous, comparatively
What happened
Hustler founder Larry Flynt and “Girls Gone Wild” creator Joe Francis said they will seek a $5 billion federal bailout for the adult-entertainment industry. Porn DVD sales dropped 22 percent last year, which Flynt attributes to a fall in libido tied to “economic misery.” Francis Koenig, whose porn investment fund gained 50 percent in 2008, disagrees. “You’ve got 6 billion people on the planet,” he says, “and they’re all horny.” (New York Daily News)
What the commentators said
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Another day, another bailout request, said Jim Lindgren in The Volokh Conspiracy. But as absurd as a porn handout would be, “economically, this request is no more ridiculous than the one last month from the home building industry.” After all, we need fewer houses on the market now, not more.
Flynt and Francis “just might have a stronger argument than the automotive industry,” too, said Ron Chusid in Liberal Values. Unlike GM, Ford, and Chrysler, the porn industry's woes aren't the result of bad management decisions. Congress probably won’t touch this, but it would sure make for interesting viewing on C-SPAN.
It's a publicity stunt, of course, said Joe Weisenthal in ClusterStock, but seriously, “if we’re talking about avoiding systemic economic risk,” near-bankrupt California really would be hit hard by “massive unemployment in the San Fernando Valley,” the nerve center of the “sin business.”
Francis actually thinks they could get “a slice of the bailout pie,” said Ed Morrissey in Hot Air. But Flynt, who says a bailout would boost the national libido, sounds like he’s “using satire to make a political point.” "I’d say it’s just another way for taxpayers to get screwed.”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Porn purveyors may not need a targeted bailout, said Amanda Terkel in Think Progress. Porn sites and erotic goods saw a 20-30 percent upswing after the IRS sent out stimulus checks last year. In fact, the famously “recession-proof” industry might be doing fine now if not for the Bush administration’s “aggressive fight in the War on Porn.”
-
5 weather-beaten cartoons about the Texas floods
Cartoons Artists take on funding cuts, politicizing tragedy, and more
-
What has the Dalai Lama achieved?
The Explainer Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader has just turned 90, and he has been clarifying his reincarnation plans
-
Europe's heatwave: the new front line of climate change
In the Spotlight How will the continent adapt to 'bearing the brunt of climate change'?