Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Who doesn't like lower credit card interest rates? Well, banks. I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. This week we started to get quarterly profit reports. As is tradition, banks are early in that lineup and profits have generally been great this week.
But within that industry, there's concern about President Trump's plan to try to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent if they were to get through Congress. Christopher Lowe is chief economist at FHN Financial.
Here's the deal, right? Most credit card interest rates are over 20%, which is remarkably high compared to other interest rates. The reason is it's an unsecured loan. If you ultimately find you can't pay, you can walk away from it. That comes with penalties, of course, but from a bank's perspective, it's still money lent and lost.
The way they cover those losses is by charging everybody these extraordinarily high interest rates. Even good borrowers pay over 20%. High-risk borrowers, well, they pay the highest rates. If the rate is capped at 10, banks simply won't be able to cover their losses. Delinquencies on credit cards are running at about 12.5%. The math doesn't work. And as a result...
For many people, what they'll find is the lowest interest rate is zero because that's what you pay when you don't have a card.
By the way, we should stipulate this is not going to sail through a Republican-led Congress. There are lobbyists for banks with friends in Congress, and it's going to be a vigorous discussion.
although that's absolutely right then you know also traditionally republicans don't much like price controls which is basically what this is uh... i i don't think it will sail through but it is an astonishing thing uh... coming from a republican president it's it's the kind of suggestion we expect to hear from people like bernie sanders and elizabeth warren but uh... populism these days
It's a two-party process.
All right. Or at least the rhetoric of populism at a time in which the key word affordability is front and center. Chris Lowe, chief economist at FHN Financial. Thank you.
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Chapter 2: What are the new entry fees for international visitors at U.S. national parks?
The sewers at Yellowstone need repairs. A museum at Sequoia has structural deficiencies. Add it all together and the Park Service maintenance backlog runs to $22 billion. Watkins says the parks are now getting help tackling those improvements. International visitors who are 16 or older have to pay up to $100 each on top of existing entrance fees.
His group estimates that having every international visitor to Yellowstone pay more will keep a few of them away. But even so, he says, the added charge...
would potentially triple or quadruple current entry fee revenues at the park.
Watkins says all kinds of experiences are priced in similar ways. Out-of-state students pay higher tuition, and licenses cost more for out-of-state hunters.
certain cohorts are not part of the local tax base and do not contribute in that way, and then so maybe are asked to contribute in different ways to help the system as a whole.
Some other park and conservation groups say they worry this policy was adopted too quickly and without taking potential problems into account. Emily Thompson with the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks says start with checking who is a U.S. resident and who isn't and needs to pay up, especially during peak season.
It's going to cause further delays at entrance gates going into parks. It's going to diminish the visitor experience. And it's going to be a burden on park staff who are already short-staffed.
Some park advocates also worry about the fee's potential impact on visitor numbers and how any downturn could hit gateway communities near the parks. Visitors spent $29 billion there in 2024. Lance Syrett manages Ruby's Inn right outside of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.
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Chapter 3: How will increased park fees address maintenance backlogs?
He says visitors from outside the U.S. are already staying away.
Our business is 5% down overall. International is probably down 10 or 15%.
Syrett says he gets the need for a fee. He just thinks this one is too much too soon.
If the implementation was delayed a little bit, if there was a small incremental increase, I think in three or four years you could build that up to $100 without any pain to the industry.
For now, Syrit says he's spending more on regional advertising and dropping prices to bring in more early bookings. I'm Carla Javier for Marketplace.
Now, for U.S. residents, there's the America of the Beautiful Pass, where for $80 a year, people can get into 2,000 parks. It's a placard, and one version features that intense official portrait of President Trump at eye level, if hanging from the rearview mirror as designed. After some visitors covered up Trump, the park servers put out a memo saying rangers can, at their discretion...
void the pass if the press is hidden by, say, stickers showing wildlife or a smiley face. In Los Angeles, I'm David Brancaccio. It's the Marketplace Morning Report. From APM, American Public Media.
Hey everybody, it's Kyle Rosdahl, the host of Marketplace. It has been a year since the fires here in Los Angeles, and businesses that burned are still struggling.
You know, I won't lie, I've looked. I've looked at, you know, hey, maybe we move the store. It just, it wouldn't be the same hardware store.
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