Last week credit unions and banks failed to muster the votes to even delay the interchange fee cap regulation by a year. One could argue it was a failure of the American political structure that grants some groups or individuals inordinate amounts of power.

But the real failure was the lobbying. The retailers play in exactly the same field but apparently know the game better. Credit unions by themselves are not necessarily a force to be reckoned with–though they can grow to be–but combined with the bankers they should be virtually unstoppable.

As a consolation prize, credit unions will have the opportunity to kvetch about member business loan restraints, again. The Senate Banking Committee will be holding a hearing on Sen. Mark Udall's legislation June 16. Current legislation is quite a bit less empowering than previous iterations but given the current economic circumstances, and more specifically Texans Credit Union's problems as well as others, it is necessarily so. However, there are concessions in that legislation that 1) probably allowed for it even to get introduced but 2) could create problems for credit unions in the future.