As WSJ reports, the security guys tried to get chip-and-pin launched in the US 10 years ago.

This is the same technology that has REDUCED UK losses by 70%.

Why did it fail in the US?

VISA & MasterCard Greed.

Long transaction times.

Target’s short-sightedness.

And who pays for it all?  Us.  The consumers, taxpayers and shareholders.

Who doesn’t pay for it?  Executives at Target, VISA and MasterCard.

The US leads the world in credit card fraud.  Not a metric to me proud of.

From WSJ:

Executives in Target’s credit-card division tried to keep the program but lost out to the concerns of executives responsible for store operations and merchandising, a group that included Mr. Steinhafel, who worried the technology slowed checkout speeds and didn’t offer enough marketing benefits, according to a person familiar with the decision.

The risks of big, expensive attacks like Target’s could help spur a consensus on the issue.

“All of us have a common interest in being protected, so this might be a chance for retailers and banks to for once work together, as opposed to sue each other like we’ve been doing the last decade,” James Dimon, CEO of J.P. Morgan Chase JPM -1.00% & Co., said last week on an earnings call.

Mr. Steinhafel, in his first public comments since the breach, said momentum is picking up for mass adoption of chip cards. “I think we’re ready to move,” the Target CEO said in a Jan. 13 interview with CNBC. Target, he said, was “out front of the industry, and the industry didn’t follow.”

via Target Tried an Anti-Theft Credit-Card System Years Ago – WSJ.com.