Emily McCombs writes:

The economic stimulus checks that arrived in American mailboxes in recent weeks were apparently even more stimulating than the government intended.  According to people who get paid to monitor such things, porn Web sites experienced an upswing in sales in the weeks after people received their economic stimulus checks.

“Many of the sites we surveyed have reported 20-30% growth in membership rates since mid-May when the checks were first sent out, and typically the summer is a slow period for this market,” Kirk Mishkin, Head Research Consultant for the Adult Internet Research Marketing Company, said.

The checks, in amounts of up to $600 for individuals and 1,200 for (apparently pretty kinky) couples, were intended to help strengthen the flagging economy; aiding flagging libidos is just a sexy bonus.

Jillian Fox, spokeswoman for LSG Models, says, “Getting more people to buy porn was probably the last thing Bush had on his mind when he came up with his stimulus package, but we’ll take it.”

I disagree with Jillian Fox, this is exactly the sort of economic “stimulation” that the Federal government was hoping for when they pushed this legislation.  To put it more politically correct; maybe they were not hoping that some would pay for pornography, but they were hoping those that pushed the economic stimulus legislation were hoping that American’s would spend their checks in a way that kept the money within the United States.

An economic stimulus package is no good if you get a check from the government (this was really loaned to you, oh by the way, paid for by China and a weaker dollar), and spend it on a product made in a foreign country.  Money spent within an economy, will be spent again within the economy (minus some leakages like taxes).  Money spent within the porn industry (provided its American), will go towards paying wages for those who provide its “services.”  That money then will be spent buying food, clothing, etc.  In short, stimulating the economy.  Where as the middle-income who takes their economic stimulus check and buys a TV from Best Buy.  Best Buy takes that money and pays off their employees (money spent within the economy) and suppliers (their largest costs are incurred here, and many of these suppliers base their operations in foreign countries), much of which represents a leakage outside of the economy.

When the economic stimulus legislation passed, its proponents estimated that there would be a 500 percent benefit to the American economy (IE, $100 million in stimulus checks would lead to $500 million in benefits to the American economy).  Yet with leakages persistent, more realistic estimates argued that the actual economic stimulus would be much smaller.