Don't you just LOVE getting in line behind a bunch of people at the fast checkout who each whip out a credit card to pay for a chocolate milk and a bag of peanuts? Think of all the lost time, not to mention that prices are higher for everyone because of the merchant fees the credit card companies collect.

As for being penalized, some people seem to forget that wave after wave of bank mergers created these big Goliaths that became a law unto themselves. Without competition, they know they can charge all kinds of fees, raise the rates through the roof and then point the finger at the deadbeats. Deadbeats that they THEMSELVES issued cards to, knowing they could clip them for 30% after they had them snagged, and because their lobbyists got their mostly GOP friends in Congress to change the bankruptcy laws locking them in.

I have a card with a big bank, and they are extremely annoying. I get a call about every other week from them hawking some new financial product they want me to charge.

I'm sure things will get SOOOO much better when the One Big Bank Of America is the only card issuer left. I, for one, welcome our new financial overlords.

-Kerry O., "BTW, that last line was sarcasm."

Nah, I think I was behind you when you paid in cash and the cashier didn't have enough quarters or pennies and had to open the rolls and put them in the drawer. Then she had to turn to the other cashier and get change in 5 ones, a five, and a ten for a twenty. Or were you the guy that wrote the check, waiting until all your groceries had been tallied? Maybe you are the guy that paid with your payroll check.



Man, cards are definitely faster.

And I wonder if our government was behind in anyway of all that "easy credit".

I also think that credit cards encourage implusive and sometimes reckless spending because they are not 'real' money. You know that when you surrender your currency to buy something, you get instant feedback that you have less of it after a transaction. It serves to make you aware that you worked X amount of hours to get Y amount of currency. That in and of itself encourages thrift. Instant gratification sometimes makes you forget that other part of the equation.

-Kerry O.

I hear you... I do use a debit with a local bank, cost me nothing to use it and I always know I can not spend more than I have. You really get so used to it, and used to thrift, it is just habit now. And boy am I glad of that because when the bad economy hit I was far less affected then people around me.

I think it's much more likely that some problem with the credit card or terminal is going to hold the line up.

I also think that credit cards encourage implusive and sometimes reckless spending because they are not 'real' money. You know that when you surrender your currency to buy something, you get instant feedback that you have less of it after a transaction. It serves to make you aware that you worked X amount of hours to get Y amount of currency. That in and of itself encourages thrift. Instant gratification sometimes makes you forget that other part of the equation.

-Kerry O.

Don't you just LOVE getting in line behind a bunch of people at the fast checkout who each whip out a credit card to pay for a chocolate milk and a bag of peanuts? Think of all the lost time, not to mention that prices are higher for everyone because of the merchant fees the credit card companies collect.

My mom wasn't buying "chocolate milk. with it, thank you very much. She runs a small business and thanks to the crooks up there in Washington DC, her credit line is getting ruined. You can't run a small business without a line of credit and one way or another you will have to borrow money for something, that has to be paid back. Small business owners either start or maintain business by using a line of credit and we aren't talking about some 3000 dollar credit card , but we are talking about 100, 200 thousand.

I hate to see people cheering for the destruction of middle america and the destruction of small business owners, that's all. Once they all gone, welcome to Communist China or even worse.

in other words, since Congress is regulating the gouging, they have found another way to do it

Sorry, none of the above. I pay cash for everything and many times do the math in my head and have pretty close to the exact amount ready.
I don't write checks because of all the shenningans.

I think it's much more likely that some problem with the credit card or terminal is going to hold the line up.

Besides, if you're one of those people who think Big Brother is always watching, what better way to make it easy for him than to use digital money?

I also think that credit cards encourage implusive and sometimes reckless spending because they are not 'real' money. You know that when you surrender your currency to buy something, you get instant feedback that you have less of it after a transaction. It serves to make you aware that you worked X amount of hours to get Y amount of currency. That in and of itself encourages thrift. Instant gratification sometimes makes you forget that other part of the equation.

-Kerry O.