On Friday, President Trump announced a one year cap of 10% on credit card interest rates. The audacious move is politically expedient, beneficial to young people, and is a step in a biblical direction. But not all are happy about the announcement, and Gabe Rench at CrossPolitic is, so far, a leading voice against Trump’s announcement in Evangelicalism.
Historically, the Protestant tradition has largely agreed that lending to the poor at interest was sinful, with Reformers like Luther opposing any interest on loans and Calvin allowing for interest on commercial loans but setting a cap. The English tradition has long favored the Calvin approach, balancing societal utility and generally capping interest rates at a coincidal 10%.
Gabe Rench, AKA Waterboy, would take a libertarian approach, arguing, “It is not the government’s job to dictate free market exchanges.” Libertarians love to grandstand, and as I pointed out to Waterboy, the government already caps credit card rates at 29.99% APR, so why complain when they lower the limit to 10%? His reply:
The government should not regulate either. That is a true free market ideal.
As alluded to earlier, Waterboy’s conception of interest rates and the free market has never really existed in the Christian tradition. The libertarian mindset is consent as a basis of morality. What two people do in their bedrooms is not the government’s business. If a poor person contracts with a loanshark at 50% interest, that’s the free market.
Christians do not have a consent-based morality that says predatory lending is fine because of contracts. Usury is wrong, and high interest rates should be unenforceable regardless of what two people consented to at the time.
Currently, credit card companies are exploiting the poor and the stupid by lending at usury. This is wrong, and Christians should oppose this. But as Auron MacIntyre pointed out:
The he problem with “Christian Nationalism” is that many of guys are just liberals who don’t know it. Their values are in direct opposition to the Christianity of the founders.
Here lies a major issue. Doug Wilson has used the Christian Nationalist label to advance his own spotlight. The aptly named Waterboy has ridden Wilson’s coattails and his witness of Christian Nationalism is no deeper than libertarianism with a few Bible verses.
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5 Responses
What’s this got to do with Doug Wilson? What are his thoughts on the subject? I’m very critical of Wilson, but you make this post about him when the content has nothing to do with him.
This might interest you as it would seem there is a multi trillion dollar fraud issue with property taxes and it is about to come tumbling down, Trump may be trying to get in front of it as his administration has been made aware of the issue.
Massive Property Tax Fraud Exposed – $5.1 Trillion Bond Scam Will Crash System https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdYHbhT6524
I’m sympathetic to the arguments against the higher interest rates, but there are two thing that need considered:
1) a lower rate doesn’t guarantee helkp to the poor, in fact it will almost certainly reduce their options for access to credit. The interest rate is a reflection of risk of default. Once you cap the max rate, the lenders will tighten requirements. This will affect the poor most of all.
2) Even given the above, its not entirely obvious that greater access to credit is a good thing for modern American “poor.” I think Christians don’t consider the particular details of our culture when applying Biblical principles. Our poor are rarely destitute like those in the Bible. Additionally, they are often using this credit access to finance unnecessary or even immoral things. From big TVs to gluttony.
The issue isn’t as simplistic as many want to think.
I talked about how reduced credit access will be for the poor’s own good, forcing them to only spend what they have or at least limiting the damage of fiscal irrespensibility.
Right, my point was really directed at the “normie” right-wing person who seems to view this issues as one of high interest rates = bad for the poor. My two points were that, either way you look at it, high interest rates may not be bad. On the one hand, it may be the only access to credit they have, and on the other, the higher rate likely discourages some level of consumption.
That being said, a lower rate that causes lenders to restrict lending could be even better (though paternalistic) in discouraging reckless spending.