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Because of an antitrust dispute twenty-five years ago, Visa allows its member banks to join up with MasterCard as well. But it refuses to allow them to collaborate with any other network. The Justice Department is less appreciative. In October 1998—shortly before Paying with Plastic went to press—the government charged Visa and MasterCard with violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. (Wal-Mart and a group of big retailers have filed a related suit, charging that Visa and MasterCard have colluded to keep fees on their debit cards unfairly high. ) The trouble is that today Visa and MasterCard have pretty much the same member banks. Do two ventures with the same owners really have an incentive to compete?
Indeed, however the case turns out, the most popular complaint against the consumer-credit business is likely to remain what it was a century ago: The industry succeeds all too well at putting expensive credit in the hands of weak-willed shoppers. (466 words)
21. The phrase "chicken-and-egg problem" in paragraph 1 most probably means ______.
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