Eric in IL

Visa: Not Everywhere I Want to Be

One more thing... the comparison to MSFT is not really relevant. MSFT is running out of steam, they are still living off of prior gains, and have yet to prove that they can truly innovate. I have no idea how MSFT grows from here, esp in a more tech savvy world. People will have a credit/debit card from every company... but they will most likely have only one OS on their PC or mobile. I just don't see anyone threatening Visa's business model. And MSFT has a lot of trouble mobilizing to address threats.

Visa: Not Everywhere I Want to Be

Well, within a credit crunch, Visa has no unsecured credit card debt to worry about. The only one I prefer is MA. Discover still carries consumer balances; that is a huge risk if we do dip again. No matter what scenario takes place, other than every person on Earth paying their credit card balances, Visa/MasterCard are better positioned than Discover. The Visa Brand has tremendous value, way more than Discover. They also are better positioned with Debit... if people stick to a budget, spend on Debit as opposed to Credit, then Visa wins. Discover has virtually no Debit business.
That said, I am OK with DFS, but I really dislike AXP. I think V/MA have a more stable model.