Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is known by the derogatory nickname "Helicopter Ben." The nickname comes from a speech he gave in 2002, in which he referenced Milton Friedman's metaphor of a helicopter dropping money on a community as a way to rescue the economy.
Well, it turns out that the helicopters are now flying. The graph below, which comes from Greg Mankiw's Blog, shows the monetary base since 1986. The monetary base is defined as currency plus bank reserves.
A Poem, by yours truly:
Real estate was
The way to get rich.
Just buy a home
And give it a flip.
If you bought more house
Than you can afford,
Helicopter Ben
Will dump money at your door.
He's Helicopter, Helicopter,
Helicopter Ben,
The money-throwing man
Who's working at the Fed.
Money from the clouds,
Money from the sky,
Manna from heaven,
Thank that helicopter guy.
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