November 3, 2026

Speaking of Affordability …

Since October 2011, the Federal Reserve has capped the fee merchants pay banks when a
customer makes a purchase using the bank’s debit card. Congress directed the Fed to cap the fee assuming retailers would pass along their savings in lower prices. That didn’t happen. An
upcoming study by Michael Strain and myself calculated that thus far, retailers have saved
almost $239 billion—nearly all of it going to large national, regional, and local chains—and
there’s no evidence consumers saved anything.