Another major American industry is asking for assistance as the global financial crisis continues: Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis said Wednesday they will request that Congress allocate $5 billion for a bailout of the adult entertainment industry.You cannot make this up. But they do have a point: Why should the government be picking and choosing economic winners and losers?
“The take here is that everyone and their mother want to be bailed out from the banks to the big three,” said Owen Moogan, spokesman for Larry Flynt. “The porn industry has been hurt by the downturn like everyone else and they are going to ask for the $5 billion. Is it the most serious thing in the world? Is it going to make the lives of Americans better if it happens? It is not for them to determine.”
Francis said in a statement that “the US government should actively support the adult industry's survival and growth, just as it feels the need to support any other industry cherished by the American people."
[HT: Shruti]
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2 comments:
It depends on how good of a reason they can come up with to beat the auto industry.
Josh Barro presents an interesting article (below). He states that the public goods argument can be successfully applied to the porn industry, placing it above the auto makers... The "public good criterion" works well for government subventions and it's at leas something then arbitrarily throwing money on X or Z. I'm not saying that there's a need to throw even a cent at anything, but he makes a good point that American taxpayers should reflect upon. It's their money.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/24182.html
Btw, didn't know you blog. Excellent!
Hey Olga! Thanks for stopping by!
I worked w/ Barro this summer (I was an intern at the Tax Foundation). It's a real classy operation over there. They do good work. In fact, I borrowed the phrase "Why should the government be picking and choosing economic winners and losers?" from TF's director of state projects, Joe Henchman.
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