Bail out my credit cards! But first let me put something on there because I keep zero balances lately.
well it’s more plausible then blaming inflation on climate change!
but when the credit card scapegoat fails....climate change will be on deck
This is nothing new. It’s what Carter was using as a scapegoat back in the late ‘70s.
When credit cards were introduced earlier this year, I knew they would cause inflation. /s
The only “swipe fee” adding to our current economic troubles is the swiping done by Democrat office holders in D.C. who all seem to get rich in a measure that far exceeds their visible salaries.
Yeah, it doesn’t matter if the latest (or any) distraction or blame-shift attempt makes sense or has any sort of logical component. What matters is if the slogan can fit on a bumper sticker. That way, mental defects can understand and repeat it.
Durbin would have a point if one credit card dominated the market (a monopoly) or if the credit card companies were engaged in price-fixing.
Absent those two things, Durbin should put his commie playbook down and keep quiet.
Anything Dickwad Durbin wants, I’m against.
When you cut the supply of essential items like food and baby formula and gasoline, people will use credit cards to temporarily afford the higher prices.
Democrats latest scapegoat for:
Inflation = credit cards, Not fed policies;
Gas prices = Greedy oil companies; Not Biden’s executive orders on drilling or the Green Agenda;
Gun violence = NRA, white supremacists, and law-abiding gun owners; Not mentally deranged individuals, violent leftists and gang-bangers, black supremacists, Antifa, or a failure to enforce existing laws.
I could go on but I think you get the picture, correct?
The credit card companies do specify in their agreements that you are NOT allowed to pass this fee back to the consumer. Of course that is always done anyway, it just can’t be directly charged to the consumer. So it is baked into the prices, or recouped through some other, seemingly unrelated “convenience fee”, etc.
However, that’s been the case forever, so there is nothing new getting passed on all of a sudden that would account for inflation.
Likewise, insurance is a product that by law must be offered in non-discriminatory prices, which cannot be discriminated by race, etc. even though there may be very large actuarial differences in terms of risk and loss. Not suggesting that the laws prohibiting discrimination necessarily be changed, but that disclosure be required. For instance, before I turned 65 for the years 59-64 I had to face the Obamacare health insurance market and I was seeing premiums like $1660/month – just outrageous. That premium included a portion to cover the cost of my care – but also a large component to buy down the cost of premiums for favored groups. Precisely what was that subsidy? It had to be known to calculate the $1660 cost I faced, but what was it - $400, $500, $800 of the $1660? The most transparent administration in history couldn’t be bothered to provide that information – in fact that was the greatest reason that Obamacare became law – was the deliberate obfuscation of the enormous cross subsidization it masked.
So, more regulation in general? No thanks. But more disclosure requirements to allow consumers to know the embedded costs of risk policy at credit card lenders and cross subsidization of various groups at health insurance companies? Yes, please.
i learned my leesson, and paid off my amex in 1986.its been debit cards ever since.
It’s nothing to do w/swipe fees. Credit cards do support inflation but not by much.
When folks pay w/cash and their local coffee stop raises the price by 2 cents, they notice and go to the next one.
But w/CCs, most folks don’t even bother with the receipt.
So paying by CC does make it easier for retailers to incrementally increase charges without as much price pressure from the consumer.
Only tools in the democrats tool kit are deception and manipulation and lies.
Before credit cards, we had charge cards (like the original AMEX card)...which meant you pay in full every month you use it.
The Effect is always proclaimed as the cause in the Democrat world.
Boy am I screwed. I have a Russian credit card!!