Politalk.ca

The US has been the instrument of it's own demise. Even if he's out of office in 3 years, everyone that voted for him remains.

Time to be our own best customers. They are over.

This and the EU openly talking about selling EU debt will mean a shift globally as hedge funds flee to safer markets.

China is selling US debt. That will further devalue the US Dollar.

Pay to bank rather than pay to card.

This refers to account‑to‑account (A2A) payments—money moves directly from your bank to the merchant’s bank.
Examples include:
- SEPA Credit Transfer / SEPA Instant (EU-wide)
- iDEAL (Netherlands)
- Swish (Sweden)
- Bizum (Spain)
- Giropay (Germany)
These run on SEPA rails and often settle in seconds. A2A payments made up 17% of European e‑commerce in 2024 and are expected to exceed €850 billion by 2026

Why Europe is shifting from card → bank
1. Lower cost
A2A payments typically cost merchants 30–70% less than card processing because they bypass card networks.
2. Instant settlement
SEPA Instant moves up to €100K in under 10 seconds across the EU.
3. Regulatory push
PSD2 and open banking require banks to open APIs, making pay‑by‑bank easy and secure.
4. National champions dominate locally
- iDEAL: 70% of Dutch e‑commerce
- Swish: used by 85% of Swedish adults
- Bizum: 30M+ users in Spain
5. Consumer trust
In countries like Germany and the Netherlands, people historically prefer bank transfers over cards.