Porn Industry Asking for Bailout; Additional Industries Vy for Bailout Tax Dollars
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These are the exact circumstances people find themselves in right before they start having sex for money. What, you got an idea?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can make a porno.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not the idea I was looking for.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all mainstream now.</s>CHETRY: Well, talk about a stimulus. Can the porn industry get a piece of the bailout pie? They're certainly going to at least try. Industry titan Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild" CEO Joe Francis now saying that they want a $5 billion bailout. Why would they need your tax dollars? CNN's Erica Hill is "Minding Your Business."</s>ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You may not know it, but you're too depressed to have sex, and that's threatening to bring the economy down. At least that's the claim from some of America's best known adult entertainment execs. Their answer? Another government bailout.</s>JOE FRANCIS, CEO, GIRLS GONE WILD: It seems the government is more than -- more than eager to hand out as much money as possible and nationalize as many businesses, and have their hand in it. Why wouldn't the government want to be Larry and I's partner in the adult entertainment industry?</s>HILL: The Larry he's referring to is Larry Flynt, publisher of "Hustler" magazine. Today, the two adult entertainment giants issued a joint statement asking for a $5 billion bailout and calling on Congress to "rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America by supporting the adult industry." Flynt says Americans are "too depressed to be sexually active" and that it's hurting business. DVD sales and rentals are off more than 20 percent, according to Francis, but the industry isn't exactly headed for bankruptcy.</s>FRANCIS: It's not that we are under the impression that the porn industry needs a bailout, but we thought that we would get in line with everybody else.</s>HILL: And it's that admission that has some lawmakers fuming.</s>REP. BRAD SHERMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: I thought it was a shame that two porn industry executives would pull this publicity stunt. America faces some really difficult times. We need to focus our national attention on the kinds of reforms that we're going to need to make sure this never happens again.</s>HILL: Brad Sherman represents Southern California's San Fernando Valley, widely referred to as the porn hub of America. While it's tough to pinpoint exact numbers, adult entertainment is estimated to bring in anywhere from $3 billion to $13 billion annually.</s>ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The fact is, a lot of money goes through this industry, and it is influential. But it is not the auto industry and it's not the construction industry and it's not the banking industry. It is not crucial to the American economy that the porn industry remains healthy.</s>HILL: And that's why some look at this as more of a tongue and cheek stunt than an earnest request for federal aid. But Francis denies that.</s>FRANCIS: I think there's a lot of lawmakers out there that would like to prove a point. Our industry also supports small business. So I could see -- I could see congressmen getting behind this who are truly offended by the nationalization of our system and the erosion of our free market capitalism.</s>HILL: Buzzwords that are much sexier in Washington than adult entertainment. Erica Hill, CNN, New York.</s>ROBERTS: Well, Barack Obama is warning of 10 percent unemployment if his stimulus plan isn't passed quickly. Everybody's got an idea for how to spend it and the lobbyists are lining up. Find out who is making a pitch and why they believe they're entitled to your tax dollars. It's 23 and a half minutes after the hour.