Watch CBS News The Trump administration is taking aim at three major pillars of the U.S. financial system — the Federal Reserve, the credit card industry and the housing market — that together wield enormous influence over Americans' finances. The efforts, announced separately over the past week, are tied to President Trump's push to lower borrowing costs as consumers grapple with inflation and affordability pressures. Specifically, Mr. Trump has floated a ban on institutional investors buying single-family homes, and also capping credit card interest rates at 10% for one year. The Department of Justice launched an investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a probe that Powell said is a pretext for weakening the Fed's independence in setting interest rates.Although experts note that such measures could reduce borrowing costs for everything from mortgages to credit cards, economists warn they also risk backfiring — potentially reigniting inflation, restricting access to credit and undermining confidence in the U.S. financial system."Increasing affordability is a worthy goal of this administration, but none of the policies on the table are going to achieve that," said Nick Anthony, a policy analyst at the nonpartisan Cato Institute, where he focuses on monetary policy. He added, "In fact, most of them are likely to hurt consumers more than they will help them, whether it be price controls, intervening in the Federal Reserve, or…
Published: January 13, 2026 5:30 pm
Source: CBS News — Read original