Biz Fix

In the money: Who wins when President Bush doles out $168 billion to stimulate the American economy? Pornographers, it turns out. AIMRCo, a market research company focused on the adult online industry, says many porn websites have aroused interest from new customers since the checks first went out in mid-May. Some sites have experienced a 20-30 per cent growth in membership rates. A spokeswoman for one site said they polled new customers and found one-third were using Bush bucks to buy smut. “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.”

Trading down: Bad news for Sw33t_Tush, a.k.a. Lloyd, the 48-year-old mechanic from rural Kansas. A U.S. District judge has ordered YouTube to hand over reams of data about the viewing habits of millions of users. Viacom sued to get access to the records to prove that viewers seek out its programming (ie. the Colbert Report) far more than user generated content. While that would be interesting to know as a cultural factoid, given all the hype about social networking and viral media, the judge’s decision means Lloyd’s online proclivities will wind up in a court docket on some lawyers desk.

Number cruncher: As gasoline prices march higher, many pundits have suggested the situation will correct itself when consumers cut back on consumption. I guess we’ll soon see. Today StatsCan said sales of motor gasoline fell 3 per cent in May. Oops, since then the average price for gas in Canada has risen from $1.28 per litre to $1.39. I’m sure it’s just a lag effect.

Ticker tape: Words that would never, ever, ever have appeared in the same headline before now: General Motors, mini car, U.S…. The BCE deal is done, though investors still aren’t fully convinced…