January 22, 2020

Video: Everything on Demand

Competition makes entertainment better and cheaper.

“Reporters always complain about business. We rarely cover good things businesses do — the constant improvements that happen slowly,” says John Stossel.

Fortunately, a new video essay by Sean Malone of the Foundation for Economic Education does exactly that.

He shows the limited options for entertainment we had during his childhood and how “now just about anything I’ve ever wanted to watch is available at the click of a button.”

Why did this happen?

“The astounding wealth of home entertainment options we have today are the result of entrepreneurial start-ups.”

The video explains that 20 years ago, “Blockbuster dominate[d] the rental video space… but tack[ed] on substantial fees for returning movies late … $40 in late fees at Blockbuster annoyed Reed Hastings enough to start a new subscription-based company built around mail-order movie rentals with no late fees, called Netflix.”

By 2005, the video notes, Blockbuster had lost 75% of its market share.

Stossel says, “There is an economics lesson in that. When entrepreneurs face competition, they may lose, but the fight makes life better for almost all of us. Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter explained how that works.”

“He introduced the term ‘Creative Destruction’ as a defining feature of free market economies … older companies like Blockbuster have to become more innovative themselves or be destroyed by their competition. This process is how our standards of living continually increase,” says Malone.

“We see this in most every industry. Think how much our phones have changed,” Stossel continues. “… Competition drove innovation. We got the blackberry, then the iPhone … Now we have budget smartphones that are even better.”

Stossel adds, “Of course, not every new idea is a good one. That’s why markets and prices are important. Prices are not just money, they’re information. They tell us where to put our money.”

The FEE video explains, “This is the biggest reason why trying to centrally plan an economy just doesn’t work. Politicians and bureaucrats don’t know what people are going to value.”

Don’t monopolies stop progress? In 2007, Netflix had what some people claimed was a monopoly over streaming. But that monopoly disappeared almost as soon as it formed.

“ … Jeff Bezos … launched a small movie streaming app called Amazon Unbox. A year later, NBC Universal decided to put its big library of content into a new service called Hulu … Other companies caught up real fast,” says Malone.

When Malone was a kid, a basic cable package cost about $73 (adjusted for inflation).

“Now we get much more choice for 1/10 th the price,” adds Stossel.

“None of this was the result of any kind of grand, coordinated political plan. It’s something that could only happen in a market economy,” says Malone, “Disney+ is amazing. So is Netflix. And Hulu, and Amazon Prime. And they’re all getting better and better.”

“As long as politicians don’t do something stupid, the future looks really good,” Malone concludes.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.