Foer Gives Consumers No Credit

by Don Boudreaux on April 21, 2010

in Hubris and humility, Nanny State, Prices, Regulation

Here’s a letter to the New York Times:

Demanding that Congress cap credit-card interchange fees, Albert Foer writes that “what almost no one realizes is that those [credit-card convenience] benefits are far outweighed by an implicit transaction fee” (“Our $48 Billion Credit Card Bill,” April 21).

The reason no one realizes the excessive burdensomeness of this fee is because it’s a fiction conjured by Mr. Foer’s imagination.  The very fact that consumers voluntarily use credit cards and debit cards tens of millions of times daily is proof positive that the convenience benefits of these cards are not outweighed by the transaction fee.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux

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