Originally Posted by
tmiw
Ultimately, the only thing that has been shown to actually reduce interchange so far is a hard legally-mandated cap. I don't think we're politically there yet but I can see the US getting to that point eventually if people get fed up enough (even if we don't end up capping to as low levels as the EU).
Why would consumers be fed up? If the EU experience has proved anything it's that capped fees were never about consumers, who saw not a cent of reduced prices despite a media campaign attempting to convince them to believe that would be their benefit, but about catering to producers who wanted to increase their profits. This was easily foreseeable of course, in the same way that tax credits for electric cars and air conditioners always inure to the benefit of the producer, never the consumer. If the government introduced a million dollar tax credit for new home insulation I guarantee the very next day it would cost a million dollars to reinsulate your house.