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No, “modern” does not mean “in the last 30 years,” but credit cards have evolved extensively in that time. Without contemporary (vs modern ) credit cards you d
by eduction 2y ago
No, “modern” does not mean “in the last 30 years,” but credit cards have evolved extensively in that time.
Without contemporary (vs modern ) credit cards you don’t have airbnb, you don’t have online airline booking, you are not putting things on your visa in other states much less other countries. Credit cards have changed a LOT.
If you think debt is the main way credit cards enable travel you are missing a ton. But the fact is that is a key function too, regardless of whether you approve. Most of the country and world are not living as comfortably as folks on this board.
Appreciate what we have instead of dismissing a whole industry as useless. It seems useless until it goes away, sort of like the police, competent politicians, etc etc.
I’m a passive investor too but there needs to be some ACTIVity happening for those index funds to make money. Startups, restaurants, hair salons, housing developments, and factories don’t get any money without expensive humans you dismiss as useless making decisions in the field of financial services and economics.
- jltsiren 2y agoIncidentally, credit card marketing focused on international usage in my childhood (Europe in the 80s and 90s). There was little need for a credit card in your daily life, as cash and debit cards were cheaper and/or more convenient. But when you traveled internationally, you either had to carry large amounts of cash or some weird stuff such as travelers cheques, which were all inconvenient to convert to the local currency. But if you had a credit card, you could simply withdraw cash with a very competitive exchange rate.
- ozgrakkurt 2y agoYou absolutely do not need credit card for travel. Debit card literally does everything credit card can do
- danielmarkbruce 2y agoThe original comment almost certainly meant "the real time digital payments system run by banks and the visa/mastercard/amex/etc networks"... "credit card" is synonymous for that in the US, sort of.
- disgruntledphd2 2y agoMost debit cards globally run over credit card rails.
- kortilla 2y agoElectronic payments are not even considered “modern finance” in normal parlance.