That's according to MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, who excoriated Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on his "Countdown" program Monday.

Steele said Sunday that legalizing same-sex marriage would hurt small businesses because they'd be liable for more spouses.

"Now all of a sudden I've got someone who wasn't a spouse before, that I had no responsibility for, who is now getting claimed as a spouse that I now have financial responsibility for," Steele told Republicans in Georgia. "So how do I pay for that? Who pays for that? You just cost me money."

But Olbermann pointed out that weddings are a boon for small businesses and studies have estimated that same-sex marriage legalization will create thousands of new jobs.

"Mr. Steele, in this country, weddings are a $70 billion a year industry," Olbermann remarked. "B, billion, as in Bridezilla. Seventy billion. Most of it spread among local florists, local photographers, local hotels, local restaurants, local bridal stores.

"Admittedly," he added tongue-in-cheek, "the number of wedding gowns ordered when two men get married is zero, but think of two women, with two gowns and two sets of bridesmaids."

"There is a reason that conservatives in California opposed [Proposition 8 banning the legalization of same-sex marriage]," he added. "Last year before the rights of same-sex couples were repealed, UCLA calculated that just in California the wedding business was going to explode by $684 million over three years.

"Same-sex marriage," he added, "would have created 2200 new jobs just in California."

Olbermann also took on the Republicans' efforts to rebrand their party -- in the context of saving money.

"Why bother to spend money looking for thoughtful leaders for the Republican party?" he said. "Sure there are advantages to shrinking the GOP, but think of the savings. The Michael Steele minority, all you need for that is to get rid of all those real Republican leaders and get some egomaniacal clowns who will do it for peanuts, just for publicity, like Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney and Michael Steele. Oh, yeah, you’re doing that already. They'd be worth $16.8 billion a year to the economy."

This video is from MSNB's Countdown, broadcast May 18, 2009.