High-profile companies keep low profile on porn sales
Companies have long been using sex to advertise for phones and cars, but perhaps you're not aware that major corporations like AT&T and General Motors are currently raking in big bucks for peddling "adult entertainment." According to this story from The New York Times, Americans spend $4 billion a year on graphic sex videos and at least $800 million on less explicit sexual films. That makes up about 32 percent of business for most general retail video stores. "None of the corporate leaders of AT&T, Time Warner, General Motors, EchoStar, Liberty Media, Marriott International, Hilton, On Command, LodgeNet Entertainment or the News Corporation—all companies that have a big financial stake in adult films and that are held by millions of shareholders—were willing to speak publicly about the sex side of their businesses," noted the Times, quoting an AT&T official as responding "How can we? It's the crazy aunt in the attic. Everyone knows she's there, but you can't say anything about it." Bryn Pryor, technology editor for the trade magazine Adult Video News, said that it was more than the ease of delivering porn through technology like DirectTV and the Internet driving larger companies' interest in the porn market. "It's not just technology that made the big boys get into it," he told The New York Times. "This just happens to be a business where you can't lose money."

What is revival? This U.S. News piece does a great job of outlining some spiritual trends like the 75 percent increase of Christian music sales and popularity of the Left Behind series, but then manages to call these economic/entertainment trends what they are: economic and entertainment trends. The editors write, ...