Comment by Grombobulous

It’s so funny to me (and a little sad) how as soon as it’s suggested that unfettered capitalism be reigned even slightly that some kind of Laissez-faire economic theory like this suddenly comes into play.

I could make this exact same “price controls” argument about sketchy loan sharks that charge 200% interest.

Perhaps ensuring widespread access to credit cards isn’t actually as important as making sure credit cards are fair? Alternatively, perhaps your theory that credit cards would become inaccessible if transaction price controls were implemented wouldn’t play out? Perhaps we would discover that Visa and Mastercard and Chase Bank and Capital One would be perfectly happy collecting 0.5% of every transaction on the planet plus revolving interest charges?

I will reiterate my overall point: we have tried market-based solutions and the end result is that capital is concentrating itself at the top at alarming speed. Credit cards represent a huge oligopoly business. There is no free market situation where a new credit card company will enter the market. It is no longer possible. To the contrary, the market has only consolidated. E.g., Capital One purchased Discover Card in 2025.

How much longer do we let the market work itself out before we decide we’ve had enough trying the same ineffective strategies?