> Why are there expensive rewards programs? Because consumers like them!

I'm not convinced of this. The credit card costs are already baked into prices and so as a consumer I can either play the cc rewards game and get back a decent chunk of those fees or I can use cash and a few % of each purchase I make goes towards subsidizing the folks who do play the rewards game.

This is not a situation that can be resolved by consumer choice, because you'll never get millions of people to all voluntarily agree to give up hundreds of dollars a year in the vague hope of some change down the line.