BENSON BYTE: SMART OR SOCIALISM? Taylor Riggs Discusses Trump's Credit Card Rate Push

Hi, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Are you looking for a beach read this summer? May I suggest your big wireless bill? It's got suspense, mystery, a slightly flat, emotional arc, and a shocking twist where you realize you've been overpaying the entire time. Fortunately, though, Mint's story is better. Every plan, $15 dollars a month a month. Every plan, $15 dollars a month a month, even unlimited. That's it. That's it. See terms. Now it's time for another Guy Benson, Bensonvite, where we bring you the day's most interesting interviews in a bite-sized package. For the full episode, visit Guy Benson.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. All right, here on Guy Benson with me, Rich Zioli, filling in for Guy. It's great to be with you. And I'm so excited, one of my favorite guests whenever I fill in on Fox News Radio. Taylor Riggs, co-anchor of The Big Money Show on Fox Business, watch it every day at noon. I do certainly. Taylor, how's my favorite Maha Mom today? Oh, you're the sweetest. It was so fun to see you in studios the other day. I got to run into you. That was great. you know, just get to see you. So thank you for having me on the show. Oh, listen, I appreciate it. There's a lot to talk about. First of all, we got credit card rates, which, you know, I agree with you on this point, and I'm so glad that you put out a tweet on this, Taylor, because I think it's really important for people to know. I get it. We're frustrated with what the credit card companies charge. I understand that point. But I think your point in your tweet about how price caps don't work. I think I think you're spot on with that. Should we ask Venezuela how price that works? That's a great point, right? Not ideal, right? Don't want to be taking financial advice from socialism or communism. So, okay, let's talk about it. So the president had a good point today. He came out and he said credit card company profits have just topped 50%. That doesn't feel good when the average American still feels like they're getting screwed. He had a good point in Davos. He said, people miss a payment, and then before you know it, they lose their house. He's not exaggerating. That is true. But the way to fix that is not through capping credit card rates at 10%. We could argue that, and the host on my show, Daggie McDowell, argued this, and I hear her when she says, when rates come down. Credit card rates haven't. Credit card rates are 20 to 30% no matter what the Fed does. Let's look at that. Maybe there should be a different spread that we look at. Maybe the credit card company should be pressured a little bit instead of 30 to be 20. instead of 20 to be 15. So when the Fed's cutting rates, the rate on your credit card actually comes down. That's something we can look at, but a 10% cap, I just don't think is going to do it. Overall, generally, I just like the free market. I want the free market to do the work. But maybe I come down in the middle on this issue, too, because I feel really bad for Americans who are paying 30% interest. And it's not, they're not just...

So look, if I'm buying like my Chipotle delivery on credit card and I can't pay it back, that's on me. But if I'm struggling and living paycheck to paycheck, there's got to be a way to help people out. So price caps don't work, but I applaud the administration for throwing out a lot of ideas on this topic just to get us talking about the conversation, just to get the credit card companies to know. We hear you. We're on to you. Don't take advantage of people, but overall this isn't going to work. I think credit card companies have said that if we cap people at 10%, they can adequately price risk. So that that means I just won't loan to you. I'm going to look at Rich and be like, nope, don't like his finances. I'm cutting off your credit because you're not worth 10%. You're only worth 20 to 30%. Well, I'm a huge credit risk anyway, Taylor. So nobody would ever loan me money. That's obvious, Taylor Riggs. But I think there's another point to this to another unintended consequence, which is that... Yes, I know people they could have a medical emergency, they could have a car emergency, and then have to put it on a credit card, and that could cause financial peril. But if credit card rates are low, there may not be any disincentive for people to... charging everything on their credit cards. Whereas I think that if it's 25 or 30%, I know for me, I'm paying that bill every month because I don't want to get hit with that interest, right? If it's only 10%, I might be like, eh, you know what? I mean, I'll roll it over. Maybe they'll lower it to five at some point. I don't know. Maybe it'll be like Biden's student loans. They'll just pay it all off one day. I worry about that unintended consequence. I think you're right. I think taxes incentivize behavior. And if we're looking at this as a tax or this as a punishment, it incentivizes behavior. It is incentivizing you to think twice before you put something on your credit card and to think twice before you don't pay off that credit card. So I agree. There are some unintended consequences, but I do. I've also read some other researches from the Vanderbilt Policy Institute. And they said that the interest saved, if you just did like a 12% cap, You'd be like $100 billion or something that overall, all collectively Americans would be saving that money. And that would offset more than enough decline in any of the rewards points drop that you would see. Because you've got rewards points because you're subsidizing the risky borrower. And so the risky borrower is then coming in and because they're paying high interest rates, you get your rewards, your free upgrades or whatever you're getting. So the amount of interest we would say collectively would more than offset any decline that you would see in your rewards points. I'm just throwing that food for thought out there. But overall, I agree with you. I want the free markets to work. And if credit card companies can adequately price risk, they are probably just going to.

just deny you alone. I will say, too, that high credit card interest rates have allowed a lot of new companies to come in. That's what I love about free markets. You have a lot of buy now, pay, later companies. Now, I'm not saying that that's the right answer either because I think this younger generation is getting into a lot of trouble when it comes to buy now, pay later. But there are other options out there, and it's allowing the free market to work itself out and that people are saying, all right, you know what? Maybe I'm not going to go with this credit card company anymore. Let me look and see what my other choices are. Yeah, like there's an interest saver payment option that I have on my one credit card. So I just pay the interest saver portion every month. Now, I'm still carrying debt. And obviously, if something goes wrong, I may regret that at some point versus paying the whole thing off. But at least it's an option that I have if I want to avoid interest, which I like. And again, that's a free market solution. That came around because people were complaining if they were, you know, a few hours late and then all of a sudden now they're hit with 25% interest. Taylor Riggs, let me ask you, though, do you agree with Jamie Diamond's assessment? Because he's warning of economic disaster if this credit card rate cap were to be put into place. Cheers to America's 250th birthday. Get 20% off your first purchase at Fox Newswineshop.com with code FNRadio 20. 20% discount excludes wine club offers and cannot be combined with any other promotion. Expires July 31st, 2026. Must be 21 order to order. Please drink responsibly. I don't. I mean, we have to remember who he is. He's talking his book. They do some of the biggest loans out there. They have some of the best credit. I think in my life, I have had a Bank of America and a JP Morgan and an Amex. I've had all of the banks, right? And so he's talking his book. So I don't think it would be a total economic disaster. You hear in that interview he went on to say, we would be fine. I'm sure they would be fine. They're always fine. They're J.P. Morgan. They've the best balancing the world of all the other banks. But I think what the message he's trying to convey is he would look at that risky borrower and cut them off. And then that would be hard for that person. Where would they go? Would they have to resort to a loan shark, which isn't good, right? And then sort of they spiral. And then they really do lose their home. And so I think he's trying to get across the message that, and you have to remember, you get a low mortgage rate because if you don't pay your mortgage, the bank has your home. If you don't pay your credit card, the bank has nothing. It is an unsecured asset. So they're charging in many cases north of 20%.

So again, I don't want big government telling companies what to do. But I do like to, because the minute he says that, you know those companies are listening and they're like, oh, okay, we better kind of like speed up the weapons development system a little bit because Trump's coming for us. So if he uses it to maybe just bring light to the issue, and I don't want to say bully people around in a bad way, but effectively bully some of these companies around. maybe they'll kind of get their act together. Otherwise, if you're a company, you wouldn't issue a dividend or do with your buyback. I mean, that's your choice. Yeah. And is a shareholder? If I don't like you, I don't have to buy your stock. Listen, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you this question. Wells Fargo, moving their headquarters for its wealth management business to West Palm Beach, becoming the first big bank to run an operation from the heart of the wealth boom in South Florida, Taylor Riggs. I know this has been a big topic on the big money show, the effect of people like Zohran Mamdani and others getting into office and these banks getting saying and other companies too. And I think, you know, we've talked about the California billionaire's tax with their proposing. Other states now with millionaires taxes. It's like, when are these people going to wake up and realize companies can move? They don't have to be there. You know, I love my coworker, Brian, on my program, because he says the best thing our founding fathers did was established federalism. It's hard to leave the USA to go to Switzerland. Yeah. But it's really easy for me to go to New York to Florida or from California to Florida. Look, in economics and in finance, money goes where it is treated best. people are leaving to go to greener pastures because they are being treated better there. It is not surprisingly then that Wells Fargo's wealth management team needs to follow the wealth. The wealth is in Palm Beach. And yes, you and I are still stuck in negative eight degrees in the Northeast. I know. With more snow on the way, by the way, did you hear? We're getting like a, we're getting like this monster storm. It could be anywhere from one inch to 150 feet. I mean, that's the range right now. It's wild. But I love it. I love federalism. I love that people can move. I love that you can decide to pick up and relocate. And then eventually ask the people in Detroit. When they filed for bankruptcy, I was covering the city and the municipal bonds there. The rich people left Detroit. You know who was left in Detroit? All the poor people who couldn't afford to leave? And then who's your tax base? Yep. Now you're trying to tax your way into prosperity, but your tax base is all on welfare. You can't tax them.

So, you know, there are examples of this and private sectors came back into Detroit and tried to help revitalize that city. I hope that that's not the way we're going, but maybe we have to learn the hard way. All right, I got to switch over to Maha mom mode or Maha dad mode in my case because, you know, I am a man and I can't get pregnant. So I just want to go on the record and say that. I cannot get pregnant because there's been a lot of confusion about this. Yeah, I'm not a birthing person. And by the way, neither are you. You're a mother, all right? So I just need to also get that off my chest. And you don't just feed. I mean, I guess if you try hard enough, you can milk anything, at least according to meet the parents. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a nice, delicious glass of whole milk the other day. And I thought that was a great thing. That whole milk is back and the war on fat is over. Private companies more and more now are getting into this, and they're putting things right on the packaging saying no artificial ingredients, no artificial colors. But we still have a long way to go. You know, the other day, I had a daddy day with my girls. I took them to Whole Foods because that's where you can get a lot of the stuff that doesn't have a lot of the crap in it. Taylor, I bought them candy to do a movie day, and it was like 60 bucks. And I'm not even joking about that. And it wasn't a lot. We didn't even buy a lot, but it was like 60 bucks. How long do you think until the prices for food that is better for us? Because I know candy is still candy, right? How long do you think until we can start seeing some of this come down to prices where we can actually afford it without having to be up West Palm Beach, you know, millionaire to be able to buy our kids healthy food? Well, I'm glad that you talked about West Palm Beach because money goes where it's treated best. So let's see how these companies do when you and I take our money to greener pastures. It's going to take a while. It could take years because I think people are just waking. I think you and I are in the thick of it, but I talk to my friends and they're just now waking up. You know, my parents for the first time came over and they were babysitting my children and they said, We're not going to get any food with dyes and them for your kids. I mean, that's only in the last couple months that they've said that. So until you start seeing mass consumer behavior change, these food companies will do food diets because they're making a profit off of you and your sickness and your money. But I think the tight is turning. I love the whole milk because you know what? It provides choice. Why did you ever kill whole milk out of the schools? Just give me a choice. I'm a good consumer. I know what's good for me. And then when it comes to prices, it's going to be up to these food companies to listen to the consumer. And you know what else? I'm not like a big, huge drug person, and I have a lot of worries about all these GLP ones. But these GLP ones are changing the way we think about food.

and the way we interact with food and the cravings of certain types of food. And I think those GLP-1s are going to be a bigger hit to the snacking industry than you and I not buying red food dye. And that might force them to change to come up with better solutions, which then will benefit people like you and me who don't want food dyes and don't want sugar and don't want these horrible things that are proven to be extremely harmful. And so I think in some areas that GLP-1 tailwind could help us a little bit. Wow. All right, we don't have to end it on that cliff note, but that is, that's a big deal, Taylor Riggs. I have not looked at it from that perspective. I love it. And, of course, I do think this Maha thing is incredibly politically popular, as you and I've talked about. Listen, you're always so generous whenever I guest host here on Fox News Radio. So thank you. Follow Taylor Riggs at Riggs Report and check out the big money show on Fox Business every day, 12 to 2 p.m. Thanks, my friend. Thanks for joining us here on Guy Benson. Always my pleasure. That was yet another. Guy Benson bite. For full episodes of Guy Benson, go to Guy Benson.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to the show ad free on Fox News Podcast Plus on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music with your prime membership, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.