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Justice Department Sues to Block Visa's Proposed Acquisition of Plaid

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Re: Justice Department Sues to Block Visa's Proposed Acquisition of Plaid

#111

Post by brendoelfrendo »

capableweb wrote: post #100
brendoelfrendo wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the Justice Department may not have scrutinized this acquisition all that much, but this guy said the quiet part out loud.

It's unclear where these statements come from, but I find it hard to imagine they were meant to be public, the CEO would know better. Most likely they were internal conversations that got leaked or conversations that got logged which were part of some sort of warrant/information request. Or you're right and CEOs of huge multi-international companies are a lot more stupid than we previously thought.

I mean, even if he said it internally, that's a dumb thing to say.

Re: Justice Department Sues to Block Visa's Proposed Acquisition of Plaid

#112

Post by sib »

refurb wrote: post #87
sib wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a competitive industry with high fixed costs and low _marginal_ costs, a race to the bottom often leads to pricing less than _average_ costs and a reduction in service quality (or inability for providers to replace infrastructure consumed in providing service.

But that argument completely ignores the consequences to prices less than average. If you drop your fees so low your customers get pissed, well then, you'll loose customers. Or if you can't afford to maintain infrastructure, then you'll lose customers due to your unreliability. A race to the bottom is the reason we have 60" flat screen TVs that are better quality and cost a fraction of what a similar TV cost 10 years…

That ('we have 60" flat screen TVs that are better quality and cost a fraction of what a similar TV cost 10 years ago') is not the standard / typical meaning of a race to the bottom. TVs don't have effectively zero marginal cost. A race to the bottom is specifically about a reduction in quality that forces effectively all providers to follow or be unable to compete.

In the case of airlines, customers thought they (only) wanted the lowest price, so airlines (helped by non-transparent UIs at ticket comparison sites like Expedia, Kayak, etc) actually reduced the quality of the product by removing features (pillows, blankets, food, drinks, seat size, seat selection, changeability, eligibility for upgrades, etc).

Premium Economy in most cases is just charging customers for what they used to get in Economy.

Re: Justice Department Sues to Block Visa's Proposed Acquisition of Plaid

#113

Post by lostlogin »

megablast wrote: post #93
lostlogin wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Europe, trains are somewhat closer to this and are in every way superior in my relatively limited experience. The difference when you go something like Paris > London is night and day compared to the horror that is flying.

Except trains are so damn expensive in Europe. Insanely so. Where flights can be a lot cheaper.

I come from New Zealand and European trains seemed very reasonable. This possible says more about the state of NZ railways.

Even with the charges, given that you have to commute to and from the airport, that cost is basically removed with trains.

Re: Justice Department Sues to Block Visa's Proposed Acquisition of Plaid

#114

Post by jdeibele »

sib wrote: post #112
refurb wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that argument completely ignores the consequences to prices less than average. If you drop your fees so low your customers get pissed, well then, you'll loose customers. Or if you can't afford to maintain infrastructure, then you'll lose customers due to your unreliability. A race to the bottom is the reason we have 60" flat screen TVs that are better quality and cost a fraction of what a similar TV cost 10 years…

That ('we have 60" flat screen TVs that are better quality and cost a fraction of what a similar TV cost 10 years ago') is not the standard / typical meaning of a race to the bottom. TVs don't have effectively zero marginal cost. A race to the bottom is specifically about a reduction in quality that forces effectively all providers to follow or be unable to compete. In the case of airlines, customers thought they (on…

TVs now come with smart apps that can report what you're watching for advertising. There are very few brands (Sceptre being one) that don't do this.

So now TV manufacturers are supposed to sell the razor at or near cost and make it up on the blades of user surveillance.

Would people pay another $50 or $100 to turn it off? It's not clear that they'll ever get the chance.

Re: Justice Department Sues to Block Visa's Proposed Acquisition of Plaid

#116

Post by porknubbins »

mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #104
porknubbins wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Air travel has become so cheap you can pretty much subsidize 3-4 domestic trips a year with a good rewards credit card and flexible dates. I am not sure this is a net win for my personal happiness as I rarely take these trips for fun reasons.

Air travel has certainly become cheaper than it was in the past, but there are two sides to this - that credit card rewards are relatively high is largely a function of high credit card fees.

Thats true the fees are probably shared between all customers and businesses so its not fair for those who can’t get a credit card.

Re: Justice Department Sues to Block Visa's Proposed Acquisition of Plaid

#117

Post by mandelbrotwurst »

porknubbins wrote: post #116
mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Air travel has certainly become cheaper than it was in the past, but there are two sides to this - that credit card rewards are relatively high is largely a function of high credit card fees.

Thats true the fees are probably shared between all customers and businesses so its not fair for those who can’t get a credit card.

Right - the rewards system is essentially a wealth transfer to those who have access to credit with the rewards acting as a refund of the bulk of the fees.

Re: Justice Department Sues to Block Visa's Proposed Acquisition of Plaid

#118

Post by Papirola »

semerda wrote: post #33
ceejayoz wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do some of both. When I link a Capital One account, I get an OAuth-style flow and the ability to select which accounts I share directly on the C1 website. The sites I use this on show up as "Linked Apps" in my security settings in C1. Others use the credentials-based flow.

Where they aren’t using APIs and instead the scrapers, does that mean they have your banking login credentials? Be curious to hear how they get around MFA.

they do for CIBC. it's a problem when you change your password and they keep trying to login with your old credentials - your account gets locked.
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