If Ben Bernanke drops newspapers from a helicopter, will it save the beleaguered publishing industry?
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Probably not. But the plucky Hong Kong newspaper The Standard is using a cartoon drawing of such a fantastical occurrence to brag about the paper’s circulation, now above 200,000.
In a so-called house ad (called that because the house, the newspaper, couldnt sell the page to a paying advertiser), Chairman Bernanke tosses copies of the Standard from a red helicopter over Hong Kongs skyline. The headline on the paper WORST LIKELY OVER.
For all you non-econ wonks, the helicopter reference is to economist Milton Friedmans idea that in the face of deflation, all a central bank has to do to jumpstart spending is to drop money from a helicopter. People of course would go mad with all that free cash and go buy stuff.
As a Fed governor, Mr. Bernanke evoked the helicopter drop in a 2002 speech entitled Deflation: Making Sure “It” Doesn’t Happen Here.” Some see that speech as a roadmap for what became the Feds response to the financial crisis.
Bernanke foes, most prominently followers of Texas congressman Ron Paul, have nicknamed Mr. Bernanke Helicopter Ben, because when the crisis hit, he led the effort to do the equivalent of dropping cash from the sky through the Feds quantitative easing program. Mr. Paul and others fear the helicopter drop will cause ruinous inflation.
As for The Standard, it doesnt have to worry whether its paper will lose value from oversupply. Its already free.