I think the excuse is always that small businesses can't afford to upgrade their POS. I think the reason is that a lot of money is made by processors, etc. on all the fraudulent transactions. The credit card companies make plenty on high interest rates to cover this loss. It is like retail stores factoring in 20% (e.g.) loss into their prices so the consumer pays for it. I think capping interest rates on credit cards would force them to push chip and pin more. It is weird that we don't have chip and pin at the pump but now most places require zipcode which is worse than chip and pin.
This means everyone in the US has to accept national ID.
(It could theoretically be done at state level but it would be a huge hassle compared to national, and your tax authority and others are already national and need to know every person that lives in the country).
Basically you need to trust the federal government to solve your ID problem. And if the answer to that is "Whoa that won't happen, people won't accept national anything" then the simple answer is you'll keep being subjected to ID theft.
Why is chip & pin a bullet to bite? Isn't that just better for all parties involved?