LEIF LARSON: Credit Card Rate Caps A Bad Progressive Idea

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Legislation to cap credit card interest rates at 10% is moving through Congress — and if it passes, millions of Americans who rely on credit cards will lose access to them.

What is sold as consumer protection is in reality government price-fixing that will force lenders to deny credit to the borrowers who need it most, push small businesses toward costlier financing, and drive low-income Americans toward the unregulated lenders the bill claims to protect them from. This idea has been tried before and failed. It is a longtime progressive priority now picking up populist support on the right, and that bipartisan momentum makes it more dangerous, not more credible.

Capping credit card rates is an idea long embraced by the hard left. Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is a socialist, Democratic Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, and Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand introduced legislation in the Senate to cap credit card interest rates at 10%. (RELATED: Trump Wants One-Year Cap On Credit Card Interest Rates)

In the House, self-proclaimed Democratic New York Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is leading the effort in the House. Some populist Republicans have joined these pieces of legislation; despite the fact this idea is a long-term goal of the progressive agenda. If there is any........

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