I'm confused about the scaling issue. It's not like every time I buy a cup of coffee, I initiate a wire transfer to Starbucks. I buy these things on credit and the issuer of that credit charges me and Starbucks a fee for the service. Then I settle up at the end of the month. Looking at my bank account, I only have a few transactions per month (salary, mortgage, credit cards etc).

Why couldn't something similar work for Bitcoin? I recognize that it's not a completely decentralized system anymore at that point, but it's still much less reliant on banks and the fed than our current system. It seems like something like this would be the obvious solution to the scaling issue.

Basically, if we think of Bitcoin as a replacement for cash, then why is there so much discussion of what effectively is the credit market?