Economist Stephen Moore, a close ally of President Donald Trump, vehemently argued on Tuesday against the president’s move to impose price controls on credit cards.
Moore took to social media to voice his opposition to the policy, writing, “Price controls on credit cards NEVER work. Nixon and Carter tried, it was a disaster. Capping rates at 10% may sound popular, but it risks cutting access to credit for millions of Americans who rely on it for emergencies.”
Moore also joined Fox Business anchor Stuart Varney on Tuesday morning, who asked him about the new Trump policy.
Varney began by asking, “Is that a good idea?”
Moore replied, “Okay, I want you to get a pad and pencil and write this down. Start with the first rule of economics—the first rule of economics says wage and price controls are always, always, always a mistake. And by the way, the second rule of politics is politicians never learn the first rule.”
“So you disagree with capping interest rates? What about that?” Varney followed up.
Moore responded, “Yeah, one of the reasons the market is down this morning is because of this announcement of these interest rate caps. Look, this is a competitive market. There are four thousand issuers of credit cards. There are four major credit card companies competing. Let the market work.”
Varney pressed further, “Well, what do you predict will be the result of a ten percent interest rate cap on credit cards?”
“Well, look, you know these companies have to pay for all of the costs. Interest rates are four percent. They pay six percent on the cost of that. The people not paying get stuck with the charges. When people don’t pay their credit card bills, that puts a huge cost on the back of the credit card companies,” Moore replied, later adding, “It’s a bad idea. Let the market work. No price controls.”
Moore is a former economic advisor to Trump, who recently quit his senior role at the Heritage Foundation. Last August, Trump brought Moore into the Oval Office to present economic data to the press about how well his economy is doing, following his firing of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), whom he wildly accused of “rigging” jobs data to make him look “bad.”
Watch the clip above via Fox Business.
