So now the pornography industry is reportedly seeking a bailout, though I expect this is just a PR stunt. Mind you, if you accept that the banking industry deserved government salvation, then porn should be rescued, too. After all, porn and modern finance have much in common: they both are based on fantasy; they both cater to man’s avaricious lust; they both deprave our souls. In fact, pornography is probably morally superior. At least it is what it seems to be, unlike a Bernard Madoff investment scheme.

What’s strange, though, is that one might have expected 2008 to have been a good year for the study of whores. Vice-funds, which profit from booze, sex, and gambling, are said to prosper when capitalism is failing. I heard one financial journalist– on NPR, no less– report that when stock-prices are crashing, traders watch considerably more porn than usual (which ties into the point above). Yet the current crisis seems to be hitting the breweries, casinos and the virtual pimps as hard as everyone else. I can’t find any figures for old-fashioned prostitution, but I reckon that’s one industry that will see off these bad times. Happy new year.