Finance committee  This is a feature of the modern economy, this complexity of the product lines. On what you were saying about all the bells and whistles, there are over 200 credit cards. It reminds me of walking into a shoe store; it's just an amazing blizzard of options. Or buying a car.... In most consumer markets today, they're much more sophisticated than back in the fifties, when you went into a store and they had two of everything.

Finance committee  But I'm answering your question. I said this is a feature of consumer product markets across the economy. That's number one. Number two, the consumer makes that choice.

Finance committee  Those credit cards or those shoes or whatever that are not going to meet the needs of consumers will wither and die. Surely it's not the role of the legislators to determine, or to pick, winners and losers among product lines. So if you've shifted from picking winners and losers among credit card companies to saying let's pick winners and losers among product lines, that's called business strategy, and that's the role of the entrepreneur, not of Parliament.

Industry committee  It's on the slides.

Industry committee  I just want to answer Mr. Mulcair's question very directly. He said, “Where's the study?” AEI-Brookings Institute, 2006, Washington, D.C., an empirical study showing cash is more expensive than any other payment instrument. I presented it on my slides.

Finance committee  I just want to answer Mr. Mulcair's question very directly. He said, “Where's the study?” AEI-Brookings Institute, 2006, Washington, D.C., an empirical study showing cash is more expensive than any other payment instrument. I presented it on my slides.

Finance committee  It's on the slides.

Finance committee  I didn't memorize it. It's on my slides.

Industry committee  I didn't memorize it. It's on my slides.

Industry committee  I agree.

Industry committee  Mr. Vincent, I want to answer your question. I think you're recognizing what I'm saying. It is in the self-interest of merchants to accept business credit cards and debit cards because it enhances and augments their sales. If they didn't take them, their sales would go down and they would probably go bankrupt, and they don't want that.

Industry committee  You said there is no competition and there is no alternative. Well, somebody called Bill Gates was quoted only six months ago as saying he could go into the debit card business because he could do it more cheaply than anybody else. If they set their fees too high, any of the companies, this is going to provide an enormous incentive to some entrant to enter the business and knock them dead with a lower, cheaper, better-value product.

Finance committee  I agree.

Finance committee  Mr. Vincent, I want to answer your question. I think you're recognizing what I'm saying. It is in the self-interest of merchants to accept business credit cards and debit cards because it enhances and augments their sales. If they didn't take them, their sales would go down and they would probably go bankrupt, and they don't want that.

Finance committee  You said there is no competition and there is no alternative. Well, somebody called Bill Gates was quoted only six months ago as saying he could go into the debit card business because he could do it more cheaply than anybody else. If they set their fees too high, any of the companies, this is going to provide an enormous incentive to some entrant to enter the business and knock them dead with a lower, cheaper, better-value product.