6 ms·

It boggles my mind that the government has privatized currency to these people. Crazy-person-but-actually-really practical-idea: Nationalize one if these netw

It boggles my mind that the government has privatized currency to these people. Crazy-person-but-actually-really practical-idea: Nationalize one if these networks. Maybe Discover. The US government should provide us digital currency. The simplest way is to force the current systems to do that. All that rent they collect in terms of transactions fees shouldn't be profit for a private business but fees of the government.

Navarr 7d ago
Discover was JUST purchased by Capital One, so I think they'd hate for it to be nationalized
CGMthrowaway 7d ago
>It boggles my mind that the government has privatized currency to these people. That's the banks (lenders), not the payment networks. >Crazy-person-but-actually-really practical-idea: Nationalize one if these networks. Maybe Discover. The central planners want to. It's called FedNow.
- ZeWaka 7d ago
  FedNow is the backend behind the "instant" transfers you see between some banks these days.
Aspos 7d ago
Each of those networks carry a lot, a lot of ancient stuff. Gov is better off building a brand new network from scratch and promote it as a standard for banks to join. There are plenty of great examples from this century all over the world. Even Iran has a better payment infra than the US.
- rootusrootus 7d ago
  > Even Iran has a better payment infra than the US. That is a big claim. What would prevent someone from setting up something equally as good in the US, aside from the network effect and users unwilling to try something new for uncertain gain?
  - Aspos 7d ago
    End-users don't have much agency here, network needs banks. In Iran, they simply don't have much choice, so banks use the only network available to them. It just happens to have been built in this century, so it's not as archaic as Visa. Here in the US, I guess only regulators could realistically create a new network and have enough power to convince banks to adopt it. Nothing, of course, stops anyone from creating a new network. But the network effect is THE driving force here, it's not a minor factor.
nsvd2 7d ago
Yes, let's bring the experience of waiting at the DMV or dealing with the IRS to payment systems. Great idea
- throwup238 7d ago
  I’ve never had a problem with the IRS or DMV, because unlike Visa or Mastercard they are government agencies with accountability to the people. Visa and Mastercard are a cancer.
- drdeca 7d ago
  My experiences with the DMV have actually been pretty decent. I think a lot of their negative reputation is from how it used to be, but that they have improved substantially since then?
  - derektank 7d ago
    Naturally, it varies by state. But yes, the Department of Licensing in WA state is also one of the least onerous bureaucracies I interact with
  - spauldo 7d ago
    DMV is a state level agency and varies a lot depending on where you are. It's partially privatized here in Oklahoma and mostly painless (you only need the actual DMV for driver's tests, CDL background checks, etc.) but when I lived on the Illinois side of St. Louis I routinely heard of people spending hours in line. Normally I'm not a huge fan of privatization but the way it's done here works great. The fees are set by the state and the agency gets a percentage, so if an area is underserved someone just opens another one.
Qiu_Zhanxuan 7d ago
No Chance in hell, the US government is even going after Brazil because they've done the right thing. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pix_(payment_system)#United_States_government_investigation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pix_(payment_system)#United_St...
- alightsoul 7d ago
  UPI in India too. Why are they targeting pix specifically? Yappy in Panama and alipay in China but those are privately owned, as the us wants.
  - dormento 7d ago
    Taking current political climate into account, Lula is too popular to straight up kidnap like the Venezuelan president, and the American-backed candidate isn't pooling incredibly well.
    - alightsoul 7d ago
      So it's the us wanting to control their backyard. UPI is halfway across the globe so it would be harder to mess with Indians
- BatteryMountain 7d ago
  PayShap in South Africa, not sure if it is being attacked yet. I use it a couple of times a week. It's awesome & better than EFT's, enables cheap instant transfer even between banks. It's not a third party private company either, its offered by the reserve bank / bankserv. I think it is to reduce the amount of cash in circulation, get visible on small transfers and to relieve the EFT clearing houses.
pampas 7d ago
It's not about US consumers but international trade. The US likes taxing the world's B2C activity.
pocksuppet 7d ago
I don't know if you're aware, but there was a whole lot of controversy around Central Bank Digital Currencies a few years ago. Mainly because the government can instantly see every transaction you do and will use it to decide if you're a terrorist or not, and they have a terrorist catching quota. They can also instantly block your account. And if such system is available, the government will phase out cash.

Navarr 7d ago

Discover was JUST purchased by Capital One, so I think they'd hate for it to be nationalized

CGMthrowaway 7d ago

>It boggles my mind that the government has privatized currency to these people. That's the banks (lenders), not the payment networks. >Crazy-person-but-actually-really practical-idea: Nationalize one if these networks. Maybe Discover. The central planners want to. It's called FedNow.

ZeWaka 7d ago
FedNow is the backend behind the "instant" transfers you see between some banks these days.

Aspos 7d ago

Each of those networks carry a lot, a lot of ancient stuff. Gov is better off building a brand new network from scratch and promote it as a standard for banks to join. There are plenty of great examples from this century all over the world. Even Iran has a better payment infra than the US.

rootusrootus 7d ago
> Even Iran has a better payment infra than the US. That is a big claim. What would prevent someone from setting up something equally as good in the US, aside from the network effect and users unwilling to try something new for uncertain gain?
- Aspos 7d ago
  End-users don't have much agency here, network needs banks. In Iran, they simply don't have much choice, so banks use the only network available to them. It just happens to have been built in this century, so it's not as archaic as Visa. Here in the US, I guess only regulators could realistically create a new network and have enough power to convince banks to adopt it. Nothing, of course, stops anyone from creating a new network. But the network effect is THE driving force here, it's not a minor factor.

nsvd2 7d ago

Yes, let's bring the experience of waiting at the DMV or dealing with the IRS to payment systems. Great idea

throwup238 7d ago
I’ve never had a problem with the IRS or DMV, because unlike Visa or Mastercard they are government agencies with accountability to the people. Visa and Mastercard are a cancer.
drdeca 7d ago
My experiences with the DMV have actually been pretty decent. I think a lot of their negative reputation is from how it used to be, but that they have improved substantially since then?
- derektank 7d ago
  Naturally, it varies by state. But yes, the Department of Licensing in WA state is also one of the least onerous bureaucracies I interact with
- spauldo 7d ago
  DMV is a state level agency and varies a lot depending on where you are. It's partially privatized here in Oklahoma and mostly painless (you only need the actual DMV for driver's tests, CDL background checks, etc.) but when I lived on the Illinois side of St. Louis I routinely heard of people spending hours in line. Normally I'm not a huge fan of privatization but the way it's done here works great. The fees are set by the state and the agency gets a percentage, so if an area is underserved someone just opens another one.

Qiu_Zhanxuan 7d ago

No Chance in hell, the US government is even going after Brazil because they've done the right thing. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pix_(payment_system)#United_States_government_investigation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pix_(payment_system)#United_St...

alightsoul 7d ago
UPI in India too. Why are they targeting pix specifically? Yappy in Panama and alipay in China but those are privately owned, as the us wants.
- dormento 7d ago
  Taking current political climate into account, Lula is too popular to straight up kidnap like the Venezuelan president, and the American-backed candidate isn't pooling incredibly well.
  - alightsoul 7d ago
    So it's the us wanting to control their backyard. UPI is halfway across the globe so it would be harder to mess with Indians
BatteryMountain 7d ago
PayShap in South Africa, not sure if it is being attacked yet. I use it a couple of times a week. It's awesome & better than EFT's, enables cheap instant transfer even between banks. It's not a third party private company either, its offered by the reserve bank / bankserv. I think it is to reduce the amount of cash in circulation, get visible on small transfers and to relieve the EFT clearing houses.

pampas 7d ago

It's not about US consumers but international trade. The US likes taxing the world's B2C activity.

pocksuppet 7d ago

I don't know if you're aware, but there was a whole lot of controversy around Central Bank Digital Currencies a few years ago. Mainly because the government can instantly see every transaction you do and will use it to decide if you're a terrorist or not, and they have a terrorist catching quota. They can also instantly block your account. And if such system is available, the government will phase out cash.