Saturday’s editorial blasts Congress for credit-card regulation on the grounds that “banks scurry to make up for lost revenue” by identifying accounts that don’t generate a lot of revenue (i.e., they pay the balance every month) by hitting them with annual fees instead and that this “stems from government’s poorly thought out desire to give consumers relief.”
And the evidence this is the reason? The proof that if Congress had let companies raise rates the way they wanted they would never, ever, ever have tried to hit cardholders with fees?
None. Because being a good libertarian, the author just KNOWS they would never do anything that mean if government didn’t force them.
As the free-market champions tell us over and over, companies have no ethical responsibilities other than to raise money for shareholders, so why not try this as a way to make money? Every person who accepts a fee, after all, will be that much more profit—is the writer suggesting there are companies who say “Well, we’ve got enough profits, let’s not try to make more.”
Even a cursory few minutes research will turn up accounts of banks and credit companies playing financial games long before Congress took action–but of course, a dedicated, serious libertarian doesn’t need to do research, because they KNOW regulation is a bad thing.

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