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A History of the Bank Credit Card Infrastructure

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A History of the Bank Credit Card Infrastructure Manufacturing Debt: A History of the Bank Credit Card Infrastructure by Justin Douglas A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History University of Toronto © Copyright by Justin Douglas 2018 Manufacturing Debt: A History of the Bank Credit Card Infrastructure Justin Douglas Doctor of Philosophy Department of History University of Toronto 2018 Abstract This dissertation provides a history of the bank credit card infrastructure in the United States from 1952 to 2007 and outlines the bank management strategies, tactics, and philosophies that helped to transform the bank credit card into a tool for survival. The dissertation traces the commercial bank management strategies, tactics, and philosophies that guided the development of the bank credit card ‘infrastructure’ and were integral to the manufacturing of debt and a financial system that enabled the widespread distribution of precarious debt. The dissertation argues that the infrastructure that makes up the credit card is simultaneously, one, the technical creation of a payment platform; two, the creation of new ways of managing and planning in banking; and three, represents explicit efforts to alter the legal, social and economic conditions that banks and payment companies operated in. It examines how postwar military inspired corporate strategies guided the design, construction, and growth of the bank credit card associations responsible for the growth and development of the bank credit card ‘infrastructure.’ The dissertation claims that beginning in the mid-1960s, American commercial bankers utilized an ‘environmentality’ approach to management, that is, they used a variety of governance techniques and strategies to understand and deliberately attempt to alter their external environment, or those external elements not under the direct control or ownership of the bank, to ii ensure the bank credit card’s long-term survival and growth. This systematic or environmental approach to understanding a bank’s milieu provoked bank officers into taking pre-emptive measures to avoid, eliminate, or capitalize on the risks associated with these external variables. By detailing these banking strategies, pre-emptive actions, and their effects, the dissertation claims that the 2007-2008 global financial and economic crisis was not a mistake but rather a consequence of the manufacturing of debt. iii Acknowledgments I want to start by thanking the Social Science and Humanities Research Council, the Department of History, School of Graduate Studies, and Canadian Business History Association for providing financial support for my research and conference travel. To my colleagues in the Department of History, especially Michael Savage, Steve McClellan, and Ryan Buchanan, thank you for providing both an outlet for discussing history but most importantly an outlet for not having to think about history. If it were not for these moments of escape, writing about debt and mounting inequality would be extremely challenging. To my committee members, Elspeth Brown and Emily Gilbert, as well as Scott Prudham and Michael Pettit, thank you for your brilliant feedback and for encouraging to explore complex and challenging questions. I feel incredibly privileged and fortunate to say that I never lacked intellectual, motivational, and emotional support from my committee. To Bretton Fosbrook and Kira Lussier, I want to thank you for befriending me from the beginning of the dissertation. If anyone reads this, the one thing I want you to know about Bretton and Kira is that they are incredible people. I wish that every graduate student would get the opportunity to find a group of people as wonderful as they are to grow with. I feel confident in saying that I had the best Ph.D. supervisor in Michelle Murphy. I have not met another student who had a supervisor that was so encouraging, supportive and worked so hard to help me grow as a scholar. I learned so much from Michelle, but I think the greatest gift that I received was an incredibly deep and radical sense of empathy. I hope that I can impart this radical empathy to others and grow the network of those that share a deep commitment to others, both human and non-human. To my family, thank you for supporting your brother and son's wild ambition of doing a Doctorate in History. To my parents, Brian and Jocelyne, thank you for working so hard for so many years to allow me the privilege to dedicate so much of my life to education. Your sacrifice, working in jobs that were not always fulfilling, will not be forgotten and I hope that you take this dissertation as a token of gratitude and understand that without your hard work this would have never been possible. iv Finally, to my wife Caroline, we have been through so much together. Thank you for your enduring positivity throughout this entire process. When you study a topic as weighty as debt, the best antidote is to have a partner that can remind you of the love, kindness, and beauty that exists in the world. Also, thank you for working so hard to support our little family while I pursue my educational ambitions and for pulling me away from my work from time to time. v Table of Contents Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ ix Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Manufacturing Crises: Why This Research Matters ........................................................... 4 1.2 The Bank Credit Card Infrastructure ................................................................................ 11 1.3 Debt, Payment and Infrastructure ..................................................................................... 17 1.4 Environmentality ............................................................................................................... 30 1.5 Methodology and Chapter Breakdown ............................................................................. 33 Chapter 2 Unprofitable Bank Credit Cards ................................................................................... 37 2 Before Visa and MasterCard .................................................................................................... 37 2.1 Before the Bank Credit Card Infrastructure ...................................................................... 38 2.2 The New Regulatory Environment ................................................................................... 40 2.3 The First Bank Credit Cards ............................................................................................. 46 2.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 55 Chapter 3 Environmentality of Infrastructure ............................................................................... 57 3 Environmentality of Infrastructure ........................................................................................... 57 3.1 Infrastructure, Security and Finance ................................................................................. 61 3.2 Infrastructure and Modernization ..................................................................................... 69 3.3 Infrastructural Experiments .............................................................................................. 77 3.4 Infrastructure and Deregulation ........................................................................................ 84 3.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 87 Chapter 4 Planning Profitable Futures .......................................................................................... 91 vi 4 Planning Profitable Futures ...................................................................................................... 91 4.1 The Post-War Banking Environment ................................................................................ 94 4.2 A Brief History of Planning in American Business Management .................................... 98 4.3 Planning Comes to Banking ............................................................................................ 104 4.4 Planning at Citibank ........................................................................................................ 108 4.5 The Planning Process ...................................................................................................... 112 4.6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 121 Chapter 5 Building the Base ....................................................................................................... 123 5 The Development of the Bank Credit Card’s Technical Infrastructure ................................. 123 5.1 Bank Credit Card Associations ......................................................................................
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