Lets talk about the recession and how bad economy is.
 

Sporting events are always sold out for one, I took my kids to the LA county Fair this past weekend, that place is open for a month, opens early and closes late every day. FULLY PACKED, 20 Bucks to get in, 20 Bucks to Park, Big money on Tickets for Rides, Food Everywhere. Swamped. Music Concerts, Fully booked always sold out.

Where the fuck is the Recession? Money is still moving. So that's Positive.

I put my flipper homes on the market, I get cash offers the first week.

I also think, anything to do with Kids, Women or Sex. People will pay.
People don't think twice when it comes to buying something for the kids, women pay for the hair, nails and all that crap.

And people still by porn. Sex Shops are still in business too.

And yet, unemployment is suppose to be the worst in years. Go figure.

And restaurants... packed.

I think the recession for the adult industry is quite obvious. Perhaps its the old way of doing business with affiliate programs etc. Maybe this model is not feesible anymore? Sales are down, people won't pay for porn as much as before. OR... They know of free places to get it! Maybe its not a recession but a lack of interest in what they can get for free - yet NO ONE adjusts their own sites to justify the cost of 19.95/24.95/34.95 a month. I can get premium tv with many 24/7 channels with HDTV for 49.95 a month.

Just my 2 cents ;)

I live in a pretty small town. At one end of town is a small strip mall. It has a Safeway, A dollar store and a pharmacy as well as about 8 other businesses. All of them are gone now except for the Safeway and the dollar story. Although the pharmacy is still in town, they just moved to a new building they built. Still there were 3 restaurants (only place in town to get Chinese food) a beauty salon, a clothes place and a few other place and they are all now gone. All of this has happened in the last 2 years.

That said, I haven't seen much else taking hard hits, but there is a house that is for sale for 5K and they can't sell it. It is ugly, but for that price you would think someone would have bought it by now.

I think a lot of it is that in the past there wasn't much in the way of a free option. So even if you were on a budget if you wanted porn you had to pay. Now if you are watching your money there is plenty of free porn to check out. Some of these people may start paying again for the really good stuff or the niche stuff once things get better, but now there is a lot of free options and those who used to skip them if for no other reason convenience are now using them.

Just my 2 cents as well.

I'd like to test this theory by trying to sell my place. I've been wanting to get a dog, but the stupid place I live in doesn't allow them. I think in general the economy is improving but some people are still in *panic mode*.

You know whether its now, 5 yrs ago or 5 yrs in the future.. There is always a recession.. I think it comes down to the people and their mentalities..
I mean a perfect example is the adult industry.. here is a ROUGH time line and by rough I mean I know Im way off in the dates.
1. Internet Porn started.. it was all the craze ppl paid for pictures
2. Video porn.. people with picture porn better have added video capability or they were in a "recession"
3. Cams.. people with pics and vids thought the world was over unless they found a way to market cams.
4. affiliates.. OMG anyone can do this how is an oldschool pro supposed to stay alive..
5. Messenger people were kinda doing it but now the world is realising per minute sites although still poular are kinda expensive let me go get 30 minutes of time with a model for the fraction of the cost a per minute site would charge..
6. tube sites, free sites, blog sites.. OMG the whole porn world is collapsing.
7. Mobile Porn.. Tada we reach today!

I guess what Im trying to say is times change if we dont change with it then yea it will feel like a recession.. But I guess thats the 15 years of sales experience talking.. Move it or loose it was a phrase my old boss used to say. And you know what. he was right times change products change but sales are sales just a different way to do it.

FYI Kane I agree 100% now figure a way to capitalize and your golden!

I don't see any recession either. I'm making 3x more then I was 2 years ago, and tons of new luxury cars driving around here.

I'm still not convinced ont he whole mobile porn thing. Who is so busy they have to rub one off on the go to a 3inch screen?

ROFL Kon have you not read the news? even women are being arrested for indecent exposure for touching themselves to mobile porn LOL.
I agree mobile porn may be a myspace type fad.
Personally I think Live porn will trump most businesses its just getting the prices affordable for the average joe, while we all make money still..

ya i've been preaching that line for the last couple of years. the problem is content producers think they are worth a hell of a lot more than they are, and they don't understand economics.

case in point, one site we manage had a $20 a month price tag and only 30-40 videos. sold maybe 5 subs a week. we put the price to $10 a month and it started selling 5-10 a day. photographer gets upset, saying his site is worth more than that and he is not making enough money. so we put it back up to $20 a day and sales are back where they were.

i dont know if its stupidity or ego, but there's a disconnect somewhere.

Dude, when your in a gold rush its best to be the one selling the shovels right? Give me a good deal on mechbuddy and i'll buy your shovel to and help you make 3x to ensure my business survives LOL. jokes ;)

I think it's best to be the one striking the motherload, not selling shovels :1orglaugh

I love those people who say this "recession" is gonna make the Great Depression look like a cake walk.

Yeah because 2 years into the Great Depression state fairs were sold out and people were all over the place spending money and not living in dirt homes doing penny jobs just to afford a loaf of bread for the day so they could eat.

Get the fuck out of here with that shit. Yes the economy is in the shitter, but be worse than the Great Depression? Time to pack up and get a job at McDonalds if it's that bad for you kiddo.

Chargers had a local TV blackout for the first time since 2004 due to not enough ticket sales, so am not sure I can agree that sporting events are "always packed" like you say.

I think this mainly has to do with people becoming more smart with money.
They have to adapt.
:2 cents:
But,For this to happen some jobs would be nice...
http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/4489/labor.jpg

Fact is while the recession over there may officially be over, you guys have some serious ... VERY serious problems. You have spent your way out of recession, which isn't actually supposed to be possible. China is also lending to you at a frantic pace in an effort to keep their currency low, and if that stops ... all hell is gonna break loose.

The recession is an excuse the adult industry use for fucking up the business.

Utter crap.

I only need to look at my CC declines data and compare it to a few years ago to know what you say is complete crap.

It's not over, in fact, it really hasn't begun. Bailing out the banks just slowed things down, so there wasn't a huge crash.

You can tell something is going to happen when the cost of going to the movies has gone up well over 120% in the last 6 years, but people's income has gone up about 12%.

This was my last trip to the movies to see a 3D movie:
2 tickets $ 36 + $ 10 for the glasses + $ 9 large popcorn + $ 8 for 2 waters = $ 63.
God forbid you order candy. I spent $ 63 to go to a fucking movie with a friend. $63??

Never again.

The movies used to be the last resort for "blue collar" entertainment. Now, only the rich can afford it.

Consumers can not maintain consumption at today's current prices, so eventually, more markets will continue to bottom out.

The real market crashes have yet to be seen. The only markets the news media hypes on are "cars" "stock market" and "real estate"

The ONLY reason GM got out of BK was because our government pushed the news media to hype up all the Toyota recalls, practically labeling Toyota as the worst car ever. It Worked. Scared so many people, they all ran out and bought American.

Why did our governement do that? So the auto maker could pay back their loan!!!

They did, now everybody thinks we are out of danger. We're not. Real estate is still bottoming out and unemployment is still very high.

Somebody has to pay for the war. Who? The poor? We can't even afford the fucking movie about the war.

oh wait, Helloooo, it's an election year... So all your going to hear about for the next year is "we are out of danger" "The recession is over" and "The Prez is doing a great job" blah...blah...blah...... Bend over everybody, 4 more years of it... and after that, and after that. Fuck the poor in the ass and make everybody proud of their Prez at the same time.

One last thought: Why does somebody that hits a ball with a bat and runs his fat ass around some bases, earn $ 5 Million a year....and police officers and teachers make around $ 45,000 a year?

That is why our country and our values are soooo fucked up.

People don't act like there is a recession because they are being told not to... Right now the government is hoping that spending will spend us out of the recession. If it doesn't, we will be deeper then ever and we will be really fucked. It is a gamble. Most people have no idea about the world economy. I have friends and family that were laid off and cannot find a job paying enough to support their families. I have older friends that were forced into early retirement.

If this gamble does not pay off we will have a very hard next two years.... But hey, on the bright side, if the Mayans were correct, we might not have anything after that two years so if you think about it, at least you got your two years!

this thing affects some regions more than others, and some demographics more than others.

the economy has shed millions of jobs, and many of those job categories are probably going to be much reduced in the future. we simply have no use for the old labor force in a free trade multinational economy.

its hard to imagine we will need as many residential home builders for some time to come. there are, what, lets say 8 to 10 million people, 50% of those who were downsized, who will probably never work at as high a wage as before the crash again. we don't have anything we need them to do.

if you are in a region that is less affected, like I am, you were just in part of the economy that didn't get quite so fucked.

the pr0n biz is suffering, thats for sure.

If that is true it really shows how much power the adult industry has. They control the government bodies around the world that calculate economic indicators, they control the press, they are able to push the government to issue record numbers of food stamps debit cards in the US, they are able to make states, countries and banks all over the world pretend to be on the brink of insolvency, they are able to manipulate traders around the world to buy gold at record numbers and push it to another record high this week... I had no idea the adult industry was so powerful :)


Things just started. To compare where we are now to the Great Depression, which lasted well over a decade, is not really accurate.

Also, do not believe everything you see in the movies about the Great Depression. Not everyone was living in dirt homes and doing penny jobs. Many made fortunes during this time. There are a number of a great books on the subject that I have read. I would suggest some, but I doubt many here read...


During the Great Depression movie theaters had record ticket sales. It was true of many forms of "entertainment for the masses". People wanted to go out and forget their problems and have a little fun.

As for it being $20 to "get in" to the LA County Fair and $20 for parking you are exaggerating a bit. "VIP Parking" is $20 which is what I assume you used. Normal parking is $10. The price to get in on a weekend is roughly what it would cost to go take the kids to Alpha and Omega 3D at the Grove. On a weekday much cheaper. And these are the prices if you buy tickets at the gate. You can buy tickets at Costco for the whole family (4 tickets) plus free parking and free ride/game tickets for ~$50. Much less than taking the family to the movies in LA. Ralph's and McDonald's have similar offers.

As for your houses, were your cash offers anywhere near what your asking prices? One could assume not since you refer to them only as "offers". When did you buy them? If you get your asking price will you make a profit?

I have around 6 friends/family members that I know declared bankruptcy in the last 2 years. People with previously flawless credit. I know several guys that were worth millions 2 years ago who now have lost everything. One is living in a camper. I know a lawyer who are scrubbing toilets right now to make ends meet.

Maybe you do not think this is real, but the people I know who are greatly affected by it do and many are struggling just to get by every day. And things are just getting started...

Everything will be aaaaalllright. Nothing to see here, move along :thumbsup

http://i55.tinypic.com/29gctv6.png

August was a record month for repossessed (I guess it’s called) houses in the US ... people are spending less and less and the fact that the restaurants and the coffee shops are full means nothing. The US isn't Africa after all and no matter how bad things go, most of the people would still be able to afford spending 20 bucks on coffee or burger...

smaller towns and those places that relied on the auto industry seem to be singing a different tune. went to my hometown mall last year. back in the day the place would be packed but now 3/4 of the stores are closed in it and its like a ghost town in there. main street is dead also. the only place that seems to do any business right now is walmart.

I didn’t see or get hit by any recession. My companies have been growing steadily and looking back at my numbers from previous years I’m seeing a growth of 25% or more each quarter for each business. I also live in a tourist location and the Island was packed for the summer and people were spending money and driving fancy luxury cars. With that being said I do have a couple friends that were laid off from their jobs last year but they were able to find another one pretty quickly in their field.

its probably best to not value gold at all :P

the US economy had non-stop growth and price inflation for decades. prices went too high to be sustainable.

prices will adjust downward and the economy will level out. it will take years for that to happen but it will happen.

companies like coke say they can't afford to sell a bottle of coke for less than $1, but they sell the same bottle of coke in Thailand for 30-40 cents.

the US is on the high side of the teeter totter, but the US is just a tiny blip of splattered cock juice on the history of civilization. i live amidst a people who havent changed much in 5,000 years.

the world wont end, but US egos will adjust.

For our industry it's multiple issues.

First we saw wallets tight up, and then the amount of free porn. I was doing some SEO research the other day when I typed in a key word I got all tube sites.

Then it was the affiliates. Companies laid off people, sent affiliate reps packing, no new sites, no new content. Affiliates see traffic going down and ratios going up - they making less and less money to the point where it's no longer profitable for them to keep on gong. So the affiliates bail.

If you loose 25% of your business because of free porn and tube sites, 25% because of the recession, and another 40% because your affiliates left porn, well, your not left with much.

thats cuz u produce awesome fucking work..

I don't see the recession in this area.

However.. my new roommate who works in the film industry is officially unemployed as far as the .gov goes.

He's also filming a movie for the next 3 months in Toronto starting next Monday.

I know quite a few other people here who are doing cash under the table type gigs as well. That guaranteed decent pay check from the US .gov is pretty awesome I hear.

We're in a depression, sorry guys. On another note, anybody here want to sell me their gold?

The recession ended June 2009, get with the times.
http://www.nber.org/cycles/sept2010.html

i should also note, where i live now, you don't see any real signs of recession. In Ottawa, housing prices are always up, I don't know of anyone who can't find work and all seems well. Its a 180 from my hometown area (chatham-kent) where some of my relatives have been unable to find work for years now, all factories have left for mexico/china and houses can be bought for 50k.

pretty good summation roc

hey! i probably missed the big announcement but congrats on opening PSJ

so cool. i think it will sell on anticipation alone lol

it is an interesting dichotomy to see malls and restaurants packed while I know friends who were riding high 2 years ago with huge commercial construction and plumbing companies who are now on the verge of bankruptcy, blown up credit ratings and short selling their personal homes. Granted they were tied to ill-fated industries, but the fall for them wasn't gradual.

There's a recession? Haven't noticed. Gambling still going strong and thats my bizz now ;)

Maybe it has something to do with the Team, not the Recession. Just Saying. :Oh crap

Money is more about the individual. People choose how to make and spend money. You don't have to buy into a sporting event, if you don't want to.

Selling shovels is consistent income.

Finding a nice big nugget gives you one hit probably never to be repeated and you only get it by luck.

You're selling shovels anyway so I would have thought you'd understand it.