Well, as we all know, it’s a worldwide recession, ID cards started in America and the banking crisis will keep us safe. So that means that we have another job for Flash Gordoom, Saviour Of The World….but this time in Canada…

Drag queen “Ray” was enraged when a late-night customer on Toronto’s downtown track offered him $5 for oral sex recently.

“I didn’t spend two hours getting my makeup on and all dressed up for that,” says the 36-year-old former hairdresser from Venezuela, who usually charges $60 for the service.

These days, Ray is getting little more than callouses from standing all night near Jarvis and Wellesley, as the economic slump delivers an unexpected hit to the sex trade.

Of all the people that the reporter, Trish Crawford, could find to write about, she chooses a drag queen?

But it’s no surprise prostitutes and their customers end up haggling, says Sadorsky. Unlike alcohol and cigarettes, which are regulated and sold in stores, the price of sex is flexible and negotiated for each transaction by the buyer and the seller. People willing to work for less affect the going price, he says.

Hurrah! The inevitable triumph of the free market! Now if only we could apply the same principles to just about every other economic sphere and marketplace we’d have free trade, less poverty, more choice and more personal and financial freedom. Simples!