Of course I blame Bush :) But the greedy mortgage companies are the fuel to so many people losing their homes.

I can't comment on bush but i agree on the banks, the UK has some of the highest debts because credit it too easy to get and even easier to default on.

Here is my 2 cents for what its worth.. the adult industry is fed much like many other "vices". In some cases it is an addiction, others its a spontaneous buy but for the most part its ..for lack of a better word..a habit, that not many peple can kick. If the economy should faulter and a recession occur, the market may see a drop initially but within a few weeks Im sure it would get back up to the norm. This country has seen astronomical growth in prices, and NY state especially (all I can really speak of) has the SIN taxes for beer, cigs, some counties have more taxes on gas, etc. Tourism doesnt stop, consumption doesnt stop and smoking, even with the ban on smoking in bars/restaurants/indoors has not decreased..those that want it will find a way to get it, wheher thats car pooling, or buying no-name brand cigs or finding the best bargains, etc. This will probably be the trend in porn as well. You may see an increase in multi-site passes, AVS passes, FREE trials, $1 trials...and the higher cost sites ($35-40 per month) may drop but I dont think that the industry will ever die.

J-

|jester|

Jim is correct.

I read a couple of articles yesterday on this and in the early 2000's the Fed Reserve saw a recession coming so they lowered interest rates. Banks all over the US gave mortgages to anyone wanting one. Good for the US economy as it created jobs as the housing industry boomed.

Bad for foreign investors who bought up many of the mortgages. A common practice as mortgages are usually a safe bet/investment. But alas they are not this time as the US banks lent out money to people who could barely afford it and at sub-prime rates to make it worse. Now with the rates rising and the reality of paying a mortgage and all the bills that go along with owning a home people are defaulting and companies are firing CEO's and going out of business.

The US dollar is dying for many reason, one being noone wants to buy/invest in any US businesses or mortgages with such a bad economy right now.

Several quick yet good reads on the "panic" hitting banks worldwide:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_meltdown

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/mai...cnusecon24.xml

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2007/08/09/paribas.html

They're firing the CEOs but look at the payouts the fuckers get.

My son in law works for Countrywide Mortgage, he spent a year and a half on their trade floor rebundeling sub prime loans for the secondary market. Most of those loans were sold to the Chinese (I find a perverse pleasure in that fact). He's still with them and has had to lay off half of his staff, he was sweating his job for awhile but now thinks it's going to be ok. Upper level management is still getting bonuses this year of about half of what they got last year. So he will make in the mid 200's this year instead of the mid 300's.
On the other hand my oldest step son had an ARM with Countrywide, they forclosed on him when he got two months behind.

But our exports are way up :) You guys in Canada must be loving the cheap prices.

Either Christmas or the Chinese will be the final nail in the coffin. With mortages so hard to get, house prices are down. People no longer feel safe using their homes as an investment and won't spend as much for Christmas. And, if the Chinese blowhard is right about them moving the 1.3 Trillion from US dollars to Euros, that will hurt.

Yes that would hurt bigtime.

Most people are loving the US shopping for sure. Bus loads going across the border every weekend I am reading. But remember I make all my income in US dollars and the exchange was down 10% from Oct 1 to Nov 1 and 25% this year. :(

So you are kind of right with us Ramster. You had a good run living in Canada and getting paid US :)

It's taking a long time to see any actual price drops at the CDN retailers though. |bullshit|

Some are only now catching on that they better catch up real fast, or we will start buying a lot of things cross-border.

I hate to tell you this. The dollar is going to drop even further. It will keep going until a good economic policy is put in place and then it will slowly glide downward for another 6 months. Only then will it turn upwards again.

It sucks but I didn't vote for him

Around here analysts are saying the same thing unfortunately. But the provincial (state) governments are starting to ask the Feds to lower interest rates here in Canada or do something. It is really hurting Canadian retailers as shoppers are heading south. With the duty it is still way cheaper.

Local shoppers are starting to get frustrated too. A magazine has a price tag on it:
$4.95 US
$6.95 Canada

This is pissing people off since the dollar is almost 10% higher than the US dollar. |huh

WAIT...there's hope. :D

"TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar fell more than 2.4 percent against the U.S dollar on Monday, in its biggest one-day decline since 1971, as risk aversion and lower commodity prices encouraged profit-taking after its record peaks last week........ The Canadian currency has plunged more than 6 U.S. cents, or 6.3 percent since Wednesday, when it touched US$1.1039, its highest level against the greenback since the 1870s"

I noticed at the Wal-Mart the other night that they are selling the magazines for the US cover price. Some of them didn't even have the Can. price on the cover.

Zellers (a Canadian company) has already advertised they are lowering prices here too. I'd rather shop for less here than go across the border.

Take advantage, if there are any UK sponsors that bill and pay in £ then use them.

Either that or the billing companies start billing in the currency of the surfer.

No and No this biz or any biz is NOT recession resistant...but imo it will get harder yet

months ago I ran accross some credit card stats for americans and it said that a very large % of the population are close to maxed out and can only afford to pay the min. payment every month...

the internet porn biz imo is saturated and most would agree with me, also most who have credit cards dont wanna use them unless it's an emergency, thats what credit cards are supposed to be for...

americans are in debt up to there eyeballs and are trying to pay down there debt, look at how the card companies charge, all kinds of hidden charges to rape the card holders

I talk to other webmasters and the large % of them say the same thing ratios suck and they arnt making the same they made a year ago with even more traffic, even se traffic doesnt buy like it used to

sure there will always be buyers during these hard times, BUT think about all the buyers that quit buying cause they are in trouble and wanna pay down or off there cards, or they went under and are starting over...now add in the surfer who use to buy but now found tube style sites and file sharing sites, and boom you have these shit ratios we have, then you can't forget about the nasty stuff that turned buyers away either, installs, toolbars, torjens

my advise for smaller traffic webmasters like most of the free site submitters here is buckle your belt tighter and lookup with a trustable revshare sponsor who retains...and find niches that the richer surfers buy

IMO ratios overall arn't gonna get any better, just play your cards right and if it gets really bad atleast you won't go down the tubes

You're forgetting about debit cards, i binned all my credit cards because they're a complete rippoff but a debit card is just as good for buying online.

i didnt forget about those lol

i wonder how many horny surfers who had 15 or 20 left in there account and had some checks soon to clear and went for a 1.00 trial and was gonna cancle and forgot or couldn't be home todo it and got hit with some over draft charges...

in my state they range from 25.00 to 40.00 per check and some banks charge 5.00 a day till you get out of the neg

the gov was/is gonna reform the banking and credit card laws. fuck i payed 15.00 for the longest time to pay a payment over the phone automated system, till i wised up and set it up online, and even then they make it a pain in the ass to get it all setup.... fucken crooks, there fuckin loan sharks...

i'd bet porn would sell like crazy again if you could insert your money in a drive on your tower.... no worries about bouncing anything or other charges or upsells you didnt see...

|jester|

You're lucky then, go £1 over here and they charge £35 for doing so then another £30 to write an automated letter to tell you, then bung interest on top.
I think debit cards are gonna be the future as credit cards become harder to get or people get sick of paying huge interest.
With house prices here averaging 9 times the average salaries, no one can afford to be careless with credit cards and loans.

Banks are definatly at fault though, if you pay over the minimum payments each month here, they automatically up the credit limits by £500 + which is too much temptation for anyone.

I agree on the crooks, anything financial is legal robery whether it be insurance or banks/credit cards, and the fuckers are allowed to get away with it.

Might be time to start filling out apllication forms for mcdonalds. |jester|

Third glass of wine response:

Yes, it is somewhat resistant. I like the addiction analogy. That is accurate.

With the U.S. dollar in decline -- sorry my American friends, look for more foreign sales (i.e. Canadians and others -- target your Google ads appropriately).

You have to look "at the margins" to use an economic terms. Some will always be able to afford paysite porn but what will those do that can >JUST< afford to buy a membership when things get tough? That is the crux of the question.

That's all I've got and it is time to sleep.

---art ([Music] Good night! Sleep tight and pleasant dreams to you ...)

I think Internet Porn is a poor man's hobby which makes it good in a recession. Recessions mean little money and people are not happy.

I think when people have to cut their income that bars, parties and dating will take a hit and keep people at home, alone and feeling needy. Who's a better customer? People going on dates and hooking up at bars and parties or people staying home alone?

I remember on 9/11 that I watched all the sales being made and though how could someone find pleasure in beauty on such a sad day. Then I realised that I was providing a needed relief to many. What better way to forget about the bad news then spend some time in a little sexual fantasy of your own making?

If we end up in a depression then things might turn bad but I think 2 to 3 quarters of economic down turn (which is going to happen) won't effect this business as much as others.

I do believe it is somewhat recession-proof, yes. All one need do is look over the last 50 years, spot which years saw the economy in recession, and then see if spending on porn dropped way down or not. I'm thinking not.

Recession or not, it's a fact that people will still spend money on adult entertainment. I would hazard a guess that even during a full-blown depression a lot of people would still spend $$'s on porn.