In the last election cycle, the banking industry gave $16 million to individual candidates and the two political parties.  That may be one reason there are few federal laws regulating the credit card industry.  Some individual states do have regulations, but these laws don't apply to banks in other states.  For this reason, many banks base themselves in low-regulation states like Delaware and South Dakota. 

The average American gets seven credit card applications in the mail each year regardless of their credit history.  In 1998, national credit card debt was at a staggering $565 billion, more than the Gross Domestic product of India.