Larry Flint of Hustler Magazine wants a US government bail-out for the porn industry, which he says is suffering from the recession like everyone else. I'm not quite sure if he's serious – after all, he's used many of the same arguments that the carmakers used in order to get a bail-out from Washington. But I guess it is just an elaborate joke.

However, it's a joke that makes a good point. Why should Detroit deserve billions of US taxpayer funds to help it through hard times, while Van Nuys Boulevard should not?

Of course, the answer is that Detroit has lots of friends in Congress. It's greased palms. It has powerful trade unions who know how to lobby Congress. Van Nuys may have some interesting information on the nocturnal habits of a few Senators, but it has nothing like that power.

So Congress plays the game of taking money from one set of people in order to give it to others who have more political leverage. It sacrifices jobs in the general economy in order to promote employment among people who're producing things we don't actually want to buy right now. Perhaps Larry Flint has a point.