[Pen-l] economic stimulation

["Jim Devine" <jdevine03@xxxxxxxxx>]

Porn kings Larry Flint and Joe Francis go begging for a bailout
BY CATEY HILL
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, January 7th 2009, 5:18 PM

Porn kings go begging for a bailout

Is the porn industry up next for a bailout?  If porn titans Joe
Francis and Larry Flynt have anything to do with it, it will.

Yes, ladies and gentleman, the titans of pornography are begging for a bailout.

Joe Francis, creator of the "Girl's Gone Wild" video series, and Larry
Flynt, founder of Hustler, will ask Congress for a $5 billion bailout,
according to TMZ.

Why does the porn industry need a bailout?  Because apparently even
porn is getting smacked by the recession.

XXX DVD sales have taken a hit - about a 22% hit, according to TMZ.

"With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex
is the farthest thing from their mind," Flynt is quoted as saying on
TMZ. "It's time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of
America."

Francis thinks that the porn industry deserves a bailout just like the
auto and financial industries got, and he said he'll go to DC to get
it, according to TMZ.

"Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation's most important
businesses; we feel we deserve the same consideration," Francis is
quoted as saying on TMZ.

Is the porn industry really experiencing a severe downturn?  It
depends on who you ask.

Francis Koenig's fund AdultVest, which invests in porn-related assets,
was up 50% in 2008, according to Tom Johansmeyer's article in next
month's Atlantic (as reported by The Huffington Post).  But video
sales are down.

"The industry's not going anywhere," Koenig says. "You've got 6
billion people on the planet," he laughs, "and they're all horny."

The porn industry generated about $12 billion in 2007, according to
the Atlantic article.

-- 
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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