Talk about an economic stimulus. California taxpayers have paid $46,791 so that employees of the San Francisco pornographer Kink.com might produce more perfect web-based depictions of motorized dildo impalements on www.fuckingmachines.com; do a better job displaying women as they're bound, gagged, and repeatedly electrically shocked on www.wiredpussy.com; and more effectively transmit images of, well, people doing pretty much what you'd imagine they'd be doing on www.whippedass.com.
An outrage! On the other hand:
Kink.com is "legally recognized by California," says Video Coalition executive director Ken Ikeda. "They employ 100 Bay Area residents, and they also pay into payroll taxes. They're a valued community neighbor of ours. In training their employees, we're in complete alignment with the ETP's vision of keeping employees competitive in the international marketplace."
Quite so. The actual scandal here is that subsidies went to a company which should be able to turn a perfectly good profit without state aid, while being required to meet payrolls and tax bills. Union recognition should be required too.
But then again grants to already profitable businesses guarantee a result for direct funders who have to tick accountability boxes. It looks great on the books.
Anyway, that has to be the best bit of regulatory capture EVAH!
Sometimes it's reassuring to know that beneath the propaganda and brutality of the Bush Years, the Real America was keeping on keeping on.
I went to a Bay Area wine bar a few years back. The guy behind the counter told me that President Bush had never been nearer San Francisco than a tank factory 40 miles away.
Posted by: Tom | April 26, 2009 at 10:19 AM
http://cbs13.com/local/bush.sanfrancisco.2.641364.html
He did get round to it eventually...
Posted by: Richard J | April 26, 2009 at 11:16 AM