Today’s links An interoperability rule for your money: The CFPB will force banks to make it easy for you to leave. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2003, 2013, 2018, 2022 Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading An interoperability rule for your money (permalink) “If you don’t like it, why don’t you take your business elsewhere?” It’s the motto of the corporate apologist, someone so Hayek-pilled that they see every purchase as a ballot cast in the only election that matters – the one where you vote with your wallet. Voting with your wallet is a pretty undignified way to go through life. For one thing, the people with the thickest wallets get the most votes, and for another, no matter who you vote for in that election, the Monopoly Party always wins, because that’s the part of the thick-wallet set. Contrary to the just-so fantasies of Milton-Friedman-poisoned bootlickers, there are plenty of reasons that one might stick with a business that one dislikes – even one that actively harms you. The biggest reason for staying with a bad company is if they’ve figured out a way to punish you for leaving. Businesses are keenly attuned to ways to impose switching costs on disloyal customers. “Switching costs” are all the things you have to give up when you take your business elsewhere. Businesses love high switching costs – think of your gym forcing you to pay to cancel your subscription or…Pluralistic: An interoperability rule for your money (21 Oct 2023)