A Business Model that Encourages Irresponsible Lending

Friday's Detroit Free Press and today's San Diego Union-Tribune feature an op-ed I authored about the Treasury Department getting into the credit card business.  I argue that interchange and billing tricks and traps are integral parts of a business model that encourages reckless lending and irresponsible borrowing, which is why Treasury is having to step in in the first place.  If we're going to bailout the card industry, we should make sure that the business model changes so we don't end up here again.