Originally Posted by
mikesyr18
Adopting chip and PIN isn't really a price control, which is what I'm arguing against.
I could see some merchants dropping card support - particularly small salons and restaurants if chip and PIN was mandated by legislation.
I don't see an issue with adding 4 additional card network competitors. Banks might win as well since they'll get sweeter offers to support cards from eight different networks.
Your previous comment implied that when government gets involved in anything, prices go up--not when government tries to cap the price of something.
Anyway, my point was that four additional credit networks may not be viable in the US, at least not with acceptance anywhere close to as good as Visa/MC. Especially if said networks have to offer interchange rates even higher than the current four to get issuers to sign on in the first place (since merchants are already balking at the current rates). To be honest, I'm surprised the US isn't
more of a cash based society, though I guess decades of conditioning the public to not use it helps.