Quote of the Day:

One of President Obama's economic adviser's had the following to say about the credit card industry: "The card industry is giving the argument that if you didn't want to be carjacked, why weren't you locking your doors or taking a different road?" (Thanks to New York Times' reporter Andrew Martin.)

The Times reports that the banking/credit card industry is threatening to move the economy backwards at least thirty years if tougher restrictions are put into place. Thirty years ago, if you wanted to have a credit card, you had to have excellent credit, be willing to pay an annual fee, and agree to be charged an interest on your purchases from the moment you made them. In other words, credit cards were primarily a status symbol for the wealthy.

If the industry does move backwards in this fashion, it will only occur through government mandate or collusion on the part of the industry itself. No bank or credit card company will be the first to make this move for fear that some other company would not, thus losing all of its card business over night.

Think of the devastating effect this would have on the Internet business. Amazon might have to go into the banking business itself to counteract its losses.