In the Hans Christian Andersen tale the Emperor Has No Clothes, a king is convinced by two scam artists that they can weave him a suit that can only be seen by the best and brightest in the land. As the Emperor parades around naked, his subjects are fearful to comment because they don’t want to be viewed as stupid. It finally takes a child to blurt out what is clear to everyone – that indeed the emperor was wearing nothing at all.
This story is reminiscent of the fairy tale retailers have been telling for the past seven years – trying to convince Congress that price controls on debit card interchange fees are beneficial to consumers and small businesses.
