When the train wreck that's the Britney Spears soap opera rode a police-escorted gurney to Cedars-Sinai Hospital, celeb-mag sales spiked, traffic jammed gossip web sites, tabloid TV ratings rose and paparazzi photo prices surged. Britney's story is more than a public unraveling of a former Disney Mouseketeer. It’s about money: Every time she sinks to new lows, cash flows.
According to economist Dan Smith, a dean at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, bad-girl Brit is good for more than just another Hollywood headline. She’s an economic engine.
Aside from the massive fortune she has amassed from her pop career or the nearly $737,000 she rakes in every month, Brit along with gal pals Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, pushed up newsstand sales during the first half of 2007 one percent higher, to $2.39 billion. Spears is not just every celeb editor's dream come true. In fact, Brit's antics may hold the key to our economic recovery and be a viable fiscal alternative to the $146 billion economic stimulus plan the President is pushing Congress to rubber-stamp. Consider this … George W. Bush is a “lame duck” president finishing his last year in office. In his day, “W” was known as a hardy partier. By his own admission, until he found Laura and the Lord, not necessarily in that order, he was a bonafide “booze hound.” Maybe it’s time that President stop looking to others to hoist the flag, and take one for the home team.
If Brit and her bunch can propel tabloid sales to new heights, produce scads of on-air ad revenue for the likes of “Entertainment Tonight” and “Inside Edition,” imagine the buzz and bucks that could be generated by “W – The Meltdown.” Throw in the true life perils of twin “angels” Jenna and Barbara, with the on-camera handwringing of a distraught Laura Bush, and you’ve got a boffo bonanza.
To hell with the $600 checks that the President and Congress want to mail out to the American taxpayer. Every red-blooded American would consider it his or her patriotic duty to lap up every minute of this juicy First Family saga. Flat panel TV sales would soar. Frozen dinner and snack food revenues would spike as Americans hunker down each evening to watch the next salacious installment. Madison Avenue execs would trample each other in the mad rush to book time slots. Ad revenues would be off-the-charts! All of this would have the added benefit of making every American feel better about his or her lot in life. During the Great Depression, it was Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Busby Berkeley who made us forget our woes. Today, as we reel from the subprime debacle, rising unemployment and a looming recession, a soap opera staring the First Family could be just the ticket.
As a sign of bipartisan solidarity, members of Congress could spawn their own scandals. They’re certainly not strangers to public spectacle. To complete their community service requirements, Jack Abramoff, Mark Foley and Larry Craig could be brought in as “technical” consultants.
By failing to implement sound fiscal policies to avert the current economic crisis, our elected representatives have brought shame to all of us. Now isn't it their turn. Bring on the paparazzi boys!
To learn more about my market recommendations, visit my website at:www.globewestfinancial.com.
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