Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I wish to take those who are following this debate on a little trip through the world of plastic. I am talking about the world of credit cards--in this case, specifically about debit cards--because something happened over the weekend which has changed that world dramatically, and it is important for consumers, retailers, and voters across America to understand what happened. On October 1--on Saturday--the rules on how much a credit card company and a bank that issues a debit card can collect every time we use the debit card changed. They call it the swipe fee. It makes sense: We hand them the credit card or we do it ourselves, swipe it through the machine, and we pay for a transaction. Back in the old days, which I can recall, some people would write out a check. This is the new form of a check. It is a debit card. When we swipe it through the machine and the machine accepts it, the money comes right out of our checking account to the retailer where we did the business. It is very convenient. People are using it more and more. In fact, over half the transactions at most retailers now are done with either credit or debit cards. What the consumer doesn't know is there is a charge each time that card is swiped. It is called the swipe fee or the interchange fee. What is it? It is established by the two, basically, duopoly credit card companies--Visa and MasterCard. They run the whole show.…”