There is no need any more for federal agencies to pretend that there is any rational or logical reason for anything that they do. Have you studied any of Obama’s speeches? They are nothing but self-contradictions and non-sequiturs.

No journalist will be allowed within a mile of the president or any top leader in DC who has any chance of asking a simple, direct question. Nothing the government does will be seriously questioned in any forum, except occasionally by people like John Daly or Glenn Beck if they invite someone like Ron Paul or Peter Schiff on. In the scheme of things, the influence of these people is practically nil.

Many individuals will become immune to government lies because of the efforts of the Misesians, but if they make any moves these individuals will be neutralized by the The Powers That Be. When the only thing you do for a living is lie, steal and kill, you get awfully good at it. For example youtube could be shut down at the drop of a hat for “intellectual property violations” and then there will be no more nasty comments added to videos of presidential fireside chats. Practically anyone can be hassled into silence or exile by the IRS, DHS, FTC, FCC or any other agency.

The only real influence for improvement will I think come from the nullification movement. And this will not be because of any pangs of conscience or glimmers of intelligence from state governments, but because they will be flat, busted broke and unable to support or tolerate the many outrages emanating from the Kremlin, DC. If any of the states achieve escape velocity and better yet are organized on smaller and more rational lines (i.e. without fiat money being showered on them by the IMF) then maybe individuals can make a difference by fleeing to these new countries.

” after all, if Blockbuster had purchased its top rival, it would have enjoyed “monopoly power” in the video-rental market and been able to raise prices and reduce services at will. ”

This is very rich coming from a government agency.

Government CAN indeed raise prices and reduce services at will, because it holds a gun to everybody’s head so they pay for their services and hold other guns to potential competitors’ heads so they do not engage in providing services/good in a mostly government ran sector of the economy.

Blockbuster, CANNOT do that on the other hand, as people can freely go somewhere else or if some of their investors think it is misusing its “monopoly” position (ie: pissing away customers) they will just start their own business NOT doing the same whatever mistakes “monopoly” Blockbuster might be doing.

Good article. Just another example of why anti-trust laws are a joke and should be repealed.

This is the best piece describing a real case scenario I have ever read. Unfortunately, the writer isn’t aware that they made the case for the FTC. The FTC’s job is not to determine the efficacy of a business venture, nor do we want them to. Had they supported the original merger, the minor player(s) would have met their demise sooner, making the surving entity a certain monopoly. Having approved the second merger, the FTC created two formidable competitors. The deal would have reduced the debt based on a lower price, and provided time for the industry players to reassess their strategy. Unfortunately, the entrepreneurs that run the companies are/were not capable of transitioning the business into a viable business. Even Kodak saw that digital was inevitable, and yet is making a successful move into that space, while still selling film. Brilliant !

This reminds me of the Ticketmaster debacle of the 90s. All this hoop-lah was was made, but in the end nothing happened. Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation recently, giving total domination in concerts.

Expect the same with Blockbuster to merge with a talent agency, studio, or a combination of the two. Promotions for that studio’s films, or that talent agency’s roster in Blockbuster would be a huge advantage for whoever ultimately made the deal.

Please. As much as I despise government intervention, they probably did them a favor. Without knowing the exact details of the “deal” to buy Hollywood Video, I would guess that Blockbuster was planning to over-leverage their assets, with money that was available from the reckless expansion of credit by the Federal Reserve over the past 12 years. It was government intervention, in the first place, that would have possibly facilitated the merger. That is why we “need” regulatory agencies like the FTC, SEC, FDA, etc; to temper the government involvement on the front end of the economy. If we would just eliminate the front end involvement, many of the regulations, and regulatory agencies would just disappear. You can’t put the horse in front of the cart, and eliminate the regulatory agencies, and still pump the economy, and the currency.