My colleague Michael Owens‘ piece on Oktoberfest’s Black Economy-Flat Rental got me thinking.
Since I’ve decided to blog incessantly about the world’s largest Volksfest over the next few weeks, this is a great segue into the economy of the ordeal. Especially the Black Economy, or the untaxed income, is something that you might expect at any event of this magnitude.
Hookers are bussed in for the extra ‘demand’ during the more than two weeks of bacchanalia, and as Michael writes many people take their holidays and rent out their flats for a bit of extra dosh.
Research tells me prostitution is legal in Germany. I had no idea. Add a bear and possibly some incest and you’d be living the plot of a John Irving novel.
It won’t surprise you to know that reading Hotel New Hampshire when I was a kid was one of the reasons I decided to be a writer. If one can decide such a thing.
That makes me immensely happy. He’s my favorite writer of all time. You know that, right?
This makes me think that if I had a flat AND a hooker, I could be making out big time. I always realize these things way too late.
I can’t help you with the former, but the latter’s a cinch. Hookers are actually pretty easy to come by…as it were.