WHY do they act like visa and mastercard are the only players in this game.
Because, functionally, they are. The Visa/Mastercard Cartel has a lock on more than 80% of the market. "American Express" sits at 18%, because they signed a cartel alignment deal with V/MC.
Discover, by contrast, sits at 2% of the market by transaction frequency.
Vote for people that break up monopolies and don't take bribes to let monolithic companies grow even bigger.
Wouldn't that be nice? Unfortunately, the Corrupt Shitrag Trump Administration just dropped the Antitrust lawsuit against V/MC that Biden's DOJ had filed last September. Republicans are corrupt shitrags who WANT cartel monopolies like this, because then a corrupt Fascist regime like Trump's can do precisely what's been done here.