I recently saw an article talking about the usurious (think ‘usury’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usury) interest rates that credit card companies charge
The article pointed out that the 2-3% fee the credit card companies charge the merchants is never mentioned when the credit card companies are testifying to Congress about why they need to charge 26-29% interest rates
The article also pointed out that the maximum interest rate anyone could charge used to be 16% – then lobbyists for the banking industry got Congress to change the laws and here we are today