Ishmael and the Bank

Ishmael is a book that examines current problems by looking into the past. One of the key assertions is that human existence was going great for over two million years. Then, along with the agricultural revolution, people realized that the harder they worked, the more they could enjoy particular things they liked (food, mainly) instead of being limited to what was available. One thing led to another and food was no longer free.
Anyways, the books is 263 pages for a reason, and I won't spend the time to give it a proper summary. One thing I will mention, though, is that the gorilla (who's the book's main character) alleges a sort of conspiracy. Well, no, "conspiracy" isn't the right word... but I'm not sure what is. Anyhow, because the food eventually became "locked up (meaning one has to indirectly work to earn it as opposed to foraging or hunting or cultivating small gardens)," human beings, essentially, willingly incarcerated themselves. And because some people are willing to work harder than others for food that used to be free, these individuals have more control of the food (which would evolve into money, to be used on things other than food, like birth control and fast cars).
The whole idea, once every detail is laid out, is entirely convincing and makes me skeptical of the last 10,000 years. But this isn't what I'm trying to get at. Here is:
A customer came in earlier and commented on the gift cards we offer, saying something like, "You need credit cards to make these things work?" It was part question, part statement, so I just agreed. I know this guy, by the way: he owns a bar downtown. He went on to mention that he doesn't accept credit cards. (Hearing this reminded me of Kevin Whiteley, Terra's friend whom we visited in San Francisco, and his frustration over places not accepting credit cards because the business isn't legitimate (meaning more so that the business isn't run by legal citizens than meaning the business is a front for something else).)
So I asked the man if this was simply to avoid paying the credit card fees. "Pretty much," he said, but added that the whole business seems to be a conspiracy (seems to be working like one, anyways). Like this: credit cards are so convenient that everyone should have one and they should be an acceptable form of currency wherever currency is taken in exchange for a service. But what convenience is free? So they charge a fee for every transaction, usually letting the merchant foot the bill (like it's a choice, ha).
In the second half of the man's rant, he mentioned that there are two kinds of people in this world: those in the banking business, and those not in the banking business.
I don't know where I'm going with this. I thought I had it all figured out, but now I don't know who should be blamed, the banks or the people who spend money that isn't yet in their pocket.
Whatever, fuck credit cards.