Capital One–Discover Merger Tests Bank Regulators’ Merger Approach
prospect.org
Regulators have dragged their feet on new bank merger guidelines. They now have a $35 billion reason to get moving.

For the past ~15 years I have tried for the most part to boycott:

  • American Express for being an #ALEC member (which supports #climateDenial and obstructs public healthcare, public education, immigration, gun control, etc), and for participating in the #Wikileaks donation blockade
  • Visa for pushing the #warOnCash (member of #betterThanCashAlliance.org and offering huge rewards to merchants who refuse cash), for participating in the #Wikileaks donation blockade, and for blocking Tor users from anonymously opting out of data sharing on their credit cards
  • Mastercard for pushing the #warOnCash (member of betterThanCashAlliance.org), for participating in the #Wikileaks donation blockade, and for blocking Tor users from anonymously opting out of data sharing on their credit cards

Discovercard has always been a clear lesser of evils. So Discovercard has earned the majority of my business whenever cash is not possible. But now I hear chatter that #Discovercard might merge with a shitty bank that had an embarrassing data leak by an Amazon contractor: #CapitalOne. I was disappointed when Samual Jackson promoted #CapOne. Capital One supported Trump’s Jan.6 insurrection attempt among other things.

So what’s left? JCB (Japanese) and UnionPay (China). JCB pulled out of the US like 10 years ago. People outside the US can get a #JCB card but then IIRC it uses the Discovercard network in the US and the #AmEx network in Canada.

I already favor cash whenever possible. In other cases it will be hard to choose the lesser of evils between CapOne and Mastercard.

update

Found an insightful article detailing a loophole that the fed gave to Discovercard which is why Capital One intends to buy it.

  •  Overzeetop   ( @Overzeetop@beehaw.org ) 
    4•3 months ago

    I really do boycott Exxon - at least when it’s branded. In 35 years - since the Valdez spill - I’ve bought 1 gallon of gasoline from Exxon, and that was because I needed that much to get to another station without running out of fuel. It’s a trivial exclusion, though, as their drilling and refinery operations are so large that it’s likely I’m purchasing from them, or BP, (or Chevron). I don’t know of a major supplier who isn’t tainted by some part of the process. And I’m not rich enough to have the luxury of selection most of the time.

    •  debanqued   ( @debanqued@beehaw.org ) OP
      1•3 months ago

      All the oil companies quite rotten slimeballs. But if you look closely enough there is still significant variation in the extent of the evil. Off the top of my head:

      • Chevron - a right-wing ALEC member, thus contributes heavily to the politicians who are the most environmentally destructive, who neuters the EPA. ALEC also finances climate denial propaganda. Chevron was also caught financing the cloakroom project to arrange secret meetings between politicians and corps like Chevron.

      • ExxonMobil - Notable for oil spills and also because Exxon discovered climate change in the 60s and kept it secret, thus enabling it to have a much more harmful impact.

      Those are two worst. Chevron and Exxon are also both partnered with a quite evil tech giant: Microsoft, who uses AI to help those two shitty corps find places to drill for oil. Google partnered with Total, and Amazon partnered with BP and Shell for the same purposes. The greater evil to boycott is Microsoft, Chevron, and ExxonMobil. MS also has a quite long list of unethical conduct, such as helping Israel acquire facial recognition tech to weaponize against Palestinians. So if you boycott Israel you also boycott MS.