On Sun, 28 Sep 2003, Wade Preston Shearer wrote: > my VISA through my credit union (not a bank),
But VISA and all the card processors are only nominally different from "banks" -- and how does it matter if you use a VISA through a CU vs. a bank? They're only marginally different nowadays. To date I have generally preferred credit unions, but that's not really material to the discussion. > has no annual fee It would be crazy to pay one. > get 1% back on every purchase... Remembering that money doesn't grow on trees, and that is a tax the retailer adds on to every purchase, as others have mentioned. It's a poor economy to "make" money by having all prices first be raised. > AND, i pay off each purchase every night online (keep the receipt) via > my credit unions free website by transferring funds from my savings > account to the VISA. That's wise. > AND, i don't have to carry any cash, leaving my wallet almost paper > thin. Um ... sorry, but cash isn't one of the thicker things in my wallet. Two credit cards is about as thick as 5+ bills. > VISA is accepted everywhere., No, it certainly is not. Tried buying gas in California? Or a hot dog at a street vendor? Or buying computer hardware from people who actually charge you the fees they pay to accept your credit card? Or online vendors who are fed up with fraudulent purchases from eastern Europe? Can you pay your buddy back $20 with your credit card? Can you pay the kid down the street to mow your lawn? Can you pay fast offerings? Can you hand a hungry traveler $20? What happens when the phone lines are down? The power's out? Etc.? It seems incredibly risky to me to not have any fungible non-intermediated currency on hand. As I mentioned before, there's also the most-likely permanent record in various databases of the places you've been, the things you've bought, places you've patronized, etc. Backups are cheap, data mining is Fun & Easy, and companies get bought so often that your buying habits will probably live a long time. Perhaps you don't care. In 30 years, even if you do care, it'll be too late to get your privacy back. Is it a big deal to have some transactions tracked in a database? No, I don't think so. Is it a big deal to have *all* of them tracked? Yeah. For me it's willingly enabling and encouraging the situation John saw in his vision on Patmos: "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." (Rev. 13:16-17) Lest I sound like I oppose the existence or occasional use of credit on demand, and/or credit cards, I'll say that I *don't* think credit cards are the mark of the Beast, or evil. I have some myself, and find them quite useful if I run out of cash while out of town, etc. I'm not anti- diversity in the payments system. But I'll repeat myself: Using credit cards is pretty reasonable if they're acutally adding value: facilitating faster ecommerce, constraining corporate spending to certain dollar limits or categories, or giving me a relatively low-interest loan on demand, without having to talk to a bank employee every time. Those are all worth something, but they're relatively rare occurrences and have nothing to do with my regular buying groceries, gas, etc. I just shudder at blanket credit-card cheerleading. Johann ____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
