You know damn well that banks and credit card institutions take cuts of transactions. Why this aversion to Bitcoin on HN, even with LN?

Why the horror when someone asks how a free service is making their money, and how much? The quantification matters because we want to know if, in the future once they've spent all their VC money and have to make payroll themselves, it represents a better deal or not.

I agree, why would anyone provide payment infrastructure if they don't get paid?

1) information - which might be scary. 2) government control of some kind -

As for cash, the “cut” that is taken is via inflation. Governments print money increasing the total supply of currency and decreasing the purchasing power of your cash. It’s also called currency debasement and has a history almost as old as currency itself.