What was once a mainstay of the home entertainment zeitgeist is about to be altered, perhaps forever. Blockbuster has announced that it may have to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Apparently the once mighty rental giant does not fall into the too big to fail category nor does it qualify for some kind of TARP-like bailout. Of course Blockbuster backing down on a buyout of Circuit City retail stores saw the end of that national chain, so it almost seems appropriate that the management of a company that would even consider buying Circuit City might face a similar fate.
It just might be that time.
The free market has produced faster, cheaper, more reliable, and more service oriented alternatives, all competing aggressively for market share and creating significantly more jobs and opportunities than will be lost by the global giant that was once Blockbuster. And if Blockbuster can’t reconcile its problems with debt holders and is no more, there will be plenty of scavengers to pick up the pieces, to create new growth from the remains. But then that is what open markets do. They encourage people with little more than an idea and some energy to encourage the decline of lumbering goliaths for the mutual benefit of the consumer and the industry. It’s a process liberals bemoan, one that they work tirelessly to subvert, and since January 2009 have doubled down on.