The American porn industry wants you to give it a $5 billion bailout. A few days ago, Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis said that they were going to ask Congress to “rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America” by supporting the porn industry even though it is not in financial danger.

Now, regardless of whether this would technically be considered a bailout (it probably isn’t even though CNN and others have called it one) and whether the industry gets the money (it probably won’t since it’s the porn industry), this publicity stunt raises two important issues the government has to deal with: how do you decide which companies or industries deserve bailouts and how do you deal with the costs? Bailing out every industry that is in trouble simply because we’re in a recession and we need to maintain jobs creates moral hazard, encouraging riskier behavior in the future, and leads to a slippery slope as more and more industries look to the government for help, while also undermining our nation’s future by increasing the national debt.

As Obama’s inauguration approaches, legislators are busy figuring out how to use the remaining $350 billion from the first financial industry bailout, whether to pass a $1 trillion public works program that would bail out the steel industry, and the contents of the new $775 billion economic stimulus package that would bail out America.  Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office has projected a $1.2 trillion budget deficit for this year.  On top of this, there has been little progress in Social Security and Medicare reform.

Stimulus to counteract the recession is necessary.  However, as various politicians have already stated, we need to ensure that these bailouts and stimulus packages are used to stimulate our economy, not executives’ pocketbooks.  Simply bailing out every industry is not an effective method of protection against future problems.  With these large dollar amounts being thrown around, it is even more important that Congress be responsible with our nation’s money.