I learned in school that economic activity was exchange of value. Capital, labor, innovation, natural resources, something. What value did the receiver of CC "rewards" give back to the merchants and the cc users carrying balances and paying interest?beezlebub wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 5:54 pmI don't think anyone here is arguing that cash back is "free." We all can acknowledge those that carry balances along with merchant fees pay for the cash rewards we receive. If you collect cash back or not, there are still going to be some users that carry balances and pay interests, and merchants will still may fees. That is life and the nature of economic activity.Ivygirl wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 5:47 pmShould anyone be getting money without having to do any real work or sell anything of value?patrick wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 5:35 pmHow is "cash back" a lie? You can get cash as a result of using the card, at the rate advertised. I could think of some details one might quibble about (minimum redemption amounts, necessity to take easy steps to receive the cash, original payment not in cash, ability to get it back before the bill is paid) but omitting such minor things hardly seems like lying to me.Ivygirl wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 2:53 pmI'll go even farther: I feel that both the "cash back" and the "rewards" insult my intelligence. So-called free money is pernicious both personally and also to society. If money is a store of value it is not free, unless maybe from Grandma in a birthday card. A reward is what one gets for performing a meritorious act, which spending is not, so the wrong word has been deliberately chosen to describe it.
That's two lies. Lying is not nice. Payment by plastic card is fine and often useful but the "cash back" "rewards" cards I will pass on.
As far as "rewards" I don't understand the term as being exclusively used for meritorious act, but rather as also applying to anything given to encourage an activity. Since it is clearly being used with the latter meaning for cards so I don't see any deception there either.
The credit cards companies do not usually call it "free money" but if someone else calls it that it clearly means money that is easy to obtain. That is, money you can get without having to do any real work or sell anything of value. Since it is easy to use the credit card for purchases one would have made anyway, that seems to fit.
Did you answer that Yes? If you did, should everyone get money without having to do any real work or sell anything of value, or just you?
Did you answer that Just Me? Then you see the issue of justice there.
If you answered Everyone, then money no longer has value and is in serious trouble.
Is it only regular people who have to do real work or sell something of value to get money? Where does the free money come from?
Nothing, right? Something there isn't healthy.
It's really poor capitalism too. The whole point of capitalism is that money has a cost. It is literally the debit versus credit issue. Debit you pay from value you already have using money which is a store of that value; credit you pay from future value you hope to have plus the cost of money. Money should cost something, or something is broken.