💳👑The Interest Rate Aristocracy

“Ladies, gentlemen, and little donkeys in the pews 🫏 — gather ‘round! I once locked bankers in my library until they behaved. Today, I’d lock the Fed, the credit card companies, and the bond traders in there too — for they’ve created a kingdom where princes borrow at banquet rates 🍷, while peasants pay usury for bread 🍞. Let us examine this Interest Rate Aristocracy, and I’ll show you how to tear down the velvet rope.”

⚖️ The Reality of Rate Inequality

• 🏦 Corporate Borrowing Costs → Apple, Microsoft, Amazon issue bonds at ~4–6% interest. In some years (2020–2021), giants borrowed at below 3% — practically free money.

• 💳 Household Borrowing Costs → Average credit card APR in 2025 is 22–28%. Payday loans? 300–400% APR.

• 📉 Mortgage Divide → Corporations (Blackstone, Invitation Homes) can buy thousands of houses with bulk financing near 5%, while first-time homebuyers face 7%+.

• 💰 Student Loans → Private student loan rates often 10–15%, dwarfing what mega-firms pay for debt.

• 📊 Wealth Transfer Math → For every 1% interest rate cut, Fortune 500 companies save billions. Consumers? Maybe $100 on a credit card balance — if they’re lucky.

• 🧾 Tax Deduction Loophole → Corporations can deduct interest payments from taxes. Households cannot.

Translation: The system is designed so the richer the borrower, the cheaper the money.

🕰️ How We Got Here

• 1950s–60s: Banks offered small loans at single-digit rates, with strong usury caps.

• 1978 (Marquette v. First of Omaha): Supreme Court killed state usury laws → credit card companies moved to low-regulation states like South Dakota. Interest rates shot up.

• 1980s Deregulation: Wall Street bond market ballooned, giving corporations global access to cheap money.

• 2008 Financial Crisis: Fed cut rates near zero, rescued banks → banks lent to corporations cheaply, while consumer credit stayed sky-high.

• 2020–2021 Pandemic Stimulus: Corporations borrowed at near 0% from Fed facilities. Consumers? Many maxed cards and payday loans.

🔧 How to Fix the Aristocracy

1. Reinstate Usury Caps 🛑

   • Cap credit card APR at a reasonable spread (say, 10% above Fed Funds Rate).

   • Before 1980, usury caps kept rates ~12%. Why not again?

2. Public Banking Options 🏛️

   • Postal banking, credit unions, or Treasury-issued “People’s Credit Accounts.”

   • Compete with private lenders to keep rates fair.

3. Corporate Rate Floors 📉

   • Require corporations borrowing billions to pay a minimum “public dividend” rate if below-market, with proceeds funding consumer debt relief.

4. Interest Deduction Reform 🧾

   • End corporate ability to deduct interest unless wages rise proportionally.

   • Level the field: if households can’t deduct, why should BlackRock?

5. Credit Transparency 🔍

   • Mandate plain-English disclosure of lifetime costs of debt.

   • “Borrow $1,000 at 28% APR = $2,500 repayment.”

6. Fed Dual Mandate Expansion 🦅

   • Add “fair credit access” as a third mandate alongside inflation & employment.

   • If the Fed can save Wall Street, it can save Main Street.

📣 Bye For now

“Now, my good parishioners, I am no saint 👼 — I profited from panics, I smoked cigars the size of locomotives. 🚂💨 But even I knew: stability requires fairness. If you let peasants rot under debt while princes drink from golden goblets, the republic cracks like a rotten beam.

So I say: cap the rates, share the cheap credit, and for heaven’s sake, lock a few bankers in my library until they repent! 🔒📚

Until then, the Interest Rate Aristocracy will ride in carriages, while you — poor donkeys — are still pulling the cart.” 🫏💸