The MPAA said:
illegal downloads cost the U.S. economy more than $20 billion a year

Yeah sure. Like food pantries and Freecycle cost the economy.

Can't let people get food without paying for it.
Cash for clunkers too, maybe?

Drain on the economy how much again?

The Google search http://www.google.com/search?q=music+piracy+economy
returns results about claims of piracy "robs the United States of $12.5 billion in economic output and more than 71000 jobs annually"

Extending that logic, public libraries, food pantries, and Freecycle must be robbing the United States of a lot of money, er, make that "economic output and jobs" too.