alt Hacker NewsAnd the result is that the financial industry is basically untouchable. Everything is buried in so much red tape that it's impossible to compete. And the consequence is something we feel across society. Eg Visa and Mastercard picking and choosing which credit card transactions they allow has an impact on what is and isn't acceptable in our culture.
And nothing can be done about it.
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> And the result is that the financial industry is basically untouchable. Everything is buried in so much red tape that it's impossible to compete.
The financial industry possibly has never had more money or power. And now we are painting them as victims? Who is more powerful?
Visa and Mastercard are not financial institutions subject to strict recordkeeping requirements because they don’t hold deposits or securities, issue credit, or control large amounts of capital. All they do is route payments.
There are undoubtedly reasons they are so dominant today, but storing old emails and chat logs is probably not one of them.
I've never really been amenable to simple moral plays, the contrarian in me says they hide more than they obscure.
It's moving and feels true, I have a particular dislike for credit card processing, but when I stop myself, I cannot think of a single practical example of how credit card processing has tightened rather than loosened over time. Separately, despite despising the ex. absurdity of AmEx getting 5% of the restaurant check because they pay off their customers, their profit seems attributable and proportionate to the credit risk taken on, there aren't really signs of significant market power
Fwiw I don't mean like visa MasterCard, I mean like Citibank, Deutsche. Basically anyone who would have been in headlines in 2008 or has custodial responsibilities for $X00 billion.