> These steep fees also fund (a) vast extension of consumer credit, (b) massive card distribution programs, and (c) the downsides of a generally frictionless payment method (occasional fraud losses), all of which together yields higher spending for merchants.

This is a bit disingenuous. He makes it sound like these fees are the primary income for card companies, but that's not the case. Interchange and merchant fees represent a minority of revenue for card companies[1] - about 26%. The bulk of actual revenue comes from cash advances, fees charged to the customer (both annual and penalty fees), interest on balances, and ancillary products like insurance.

Here's the rub: if the US regulated credit card fees like they do debit cards (via the Durbin amendment) Visa would still be profitable - they happily operate and makes money in countries where credit card fees are capped by law, like Australia. They wouldn't be as profitable, sure. Neither would Stripe.

[1]: https://www.fool.com/credit-cards/2017/04/13/this-is-how-cre...