Publisher's Note In 1950, Matty Simmons was a 23-year-old press agent operating in New York City. That January he reluctantly agreed to promote a new concept for a man named Frank MacNamara. That concept turned out to be the Diner’s Club, the world’s first credit card company. Credit card purchases now total more than 1 ½ trillion dollars per year. The Credit Card Catastrophe is a book for everyone who wants to know how credit cards work and for those who want to understand how small pieces of plastic have forever changed the way we think about ourselves and the way we live