# Why Crowder links government policy to rising costs

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/why-crowder-links-government-policy-to-rising-costs/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Steven Crowder](https://realalpha.app/people/steven-crowder/) · Steven Crowder is a comedian and political commentator. · Created and hosts Louder with Crowder, a daily political show featuring the recurring “Change My Mind” segment.
- Host: [Konstantin Kisin](https://realalpha.app/people/konstantin-kisin/) · TRIGGERnometry
- Host: [Francis Foster](https://realalpha.app/people/francis-foster/) · TRIGGERnometry
- Show: TRIGGERnometry
- Episode: [Steven Crowder: "80% the Next President is a Democrat"](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/), Nov 4, 2026
- Moment: 50:59 to 56:46 of the episode (6 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/why-crowder-links-government-policy-to-rising-costs/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3059

## Quote

> “That doesn't make sense unless **someone else is picking up the tab**, unless you're incentivized or in some cases pressured.”
> — [Steven Crowder](https://realalpha.app/people/steven-crowder/) at [53:26](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3206) · TRIGGERnometry

## Takeaways

1. Crowder says subsidies can distort incentives in housing and education.
2. He recalls questioning a guest about government-backed mortgages.
3. He argues intervention has changed prices in key sectors.

## About this segment

Steven Crowder argues that public guarantees and regulation distort costs in housing, education and healthcare. He recalls challenging a Fox News guest during the housing crash, saying policy shifted costs onto savers.

From “Steven Crowder: "80% the Next President is a Democrat"”, Nov 4, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[51:07](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3067) But we know what you're talking about. I will say, yeah, but not just because of assets. So if you look at this argument, and it's really hard because the same thing happens with the Israel thing, where people are like, I've been called both a Nazi and a Jew shell in the same day. If we look at this, boomers have a point, and so do Gen Z. So in a couple of ways. Boomers obviously benefit from the tailwind from the greatest generation.

[51:35](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3095) okay uh and when they point to a lot of the technological advancements and the creature comforts gen z definitely has that in spades and gen z people can definitely make better financial decisions i mean i i always do coffee at home i just the other day stopped and got a cold bro i was like nine dollars i said do people do she was like yeah i'll come in and do it every day i said like do young people she's like as a monthly young people and i wanted to hit her i didn't of course i wouldn't because it's wrong But it just made me say, I'm like, okay, so this is a component.

[52:03](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3123) But when you go to the necessities, like owning a house, like university, like healthcare, okay, name me any other industries that have been more subsidized or regulated. Like, I had this conversation with my parents. I was like, they were like, well, you know, we have this house. I'm like, yeah, you bought the house for like, I don't know, $300,000, and now it's worth $5 million, and you're surrounded by Indians.

[52:27](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3147) Like, let's just be honest about what this is. And same thing if you look at health care. Well, I mean, Obamacare happened. You saw premium skyrocket, right? You're talking about deductibles. If you look at student loans, I've talked about those people, their eyes glaze over. My debate at Harvard with a professor, you could see he didn't understand it, where I said there's an incentive to make school unaffordable because Uncle Sam's going to make up the difference, right, with these grants.

[52:50](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3170) And a big part of that is diversity and affirmative action and DEI and kids who are underprivileged. So I had this. This was a big thing for me. I was at Fox News and there was a debate with, it was either Lanny Davis or Doug Schoen, some like basic white guy entrenched with the Democrats. And this is when we were just facing the housing crash. And he was, and he was saying, this is not right. You know, this is distinctly, and these Americans shouldn't be evicted from their homes and it's horrible and it's not fair.

[53:17](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3197) And I was maybe 22, I don't know. And I said, yeah. I said, did they make those payments? So I said, well, you say predatory lending. I don't really understand how a bank who makes money off of you paying back a loan with interest had like, oh, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to find people who can never pay it back. That doesn't make sense unless someone else is picking up the tab, unless you're incentivized or in some cases pressured.

[53:39](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3219) I said, so did the people though, did they make those payments? No, did they have the lowest interest rates of anyone buying a house at any point in time? I said, you know what I don't think is fair is someone like, and my parents had moved back to the States. They were living in a townhouse and they were looking to buy a home. and then it was way more difficult for them to purchase a home. I said, I don't think it's fair for people who've actually saved up.

[53:57](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3237) They have 20% to put down and they're facing whatever it is, 10% rates. And they can't get in because of some government policy that requires someone who hasn't made payments on that house for 14 months, however long it is, that they get to stay in the name of fairness. I don't think that's right. I think the people who can afford and save and responsible with their money should probably have an opportunity at those houses.

[54:16](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3256) I walked out and my three biggest influences in life would be David Letterman, Norm MacDonald, and John Stossel. I walk out and John Stossel has, you know, the makeup bib and they're carefully going around a stash. And he goes, hey, you're that Steven Crowder kid. And I go, yeah. He goes, you talk too much. I go, yeah, I saw your thing in Cancun. You talk too much. But you really, so if you talk less and show more, he goes, that'd be great.

[54:39](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3279) And then the guy who I debated, Lanny Davis or Doug Schoen is walking by. He goes, hey, Doug or Lanny. He goes, yeah, he goes, you're fucking wrong. Kid's right. And I just thought, oh, OK. And this guy is brilliant, certainly as far as economics. Like, that is something people need to understand. It's not just because they bought a house and it went up naturally. It has been an artificially manipulated market because the whole thing is, hey, people got to have their home prices go up.

[55:04](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3304) That's your nest egg. So when people condemn it, when young people look at that and they go, the solution is more socialism, is more government intervention, okay, they're not asking for that in the areas where costs have actually come down. Technology, creature comforts. I mean, even far more amenities with rent. That does not build a life. So they have a legitimate claim, young people. Like, it's really hard to afford a home.

[55:27](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3327) Sure, in comparison. It's really hard to afford a higher education. Sure, in comparison. Healthcare is unaffordable. Sure, in comparison. You've just listed the three categories of our economy that have seen the biggest pieces of legislation that we've ever seen in our lifetimes. That's how I view it. But I don't think the solution is good. And your argument would be, if you didn't mess with it, it actually worked.

[55:52](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3352) Yeah. I mean, it sounds simplistic, but what do we think happens if people who can't afford a house, they get evicted from a house because they're not making... the payments. You have more houses in the market. What do we think happens if, for example, you allow insurance across state lines as opposed to protecting insurance companies? Well, there's a cheaper plan in Texas and you live in Connecticut. Now you can get the cheapest plan. What do we think happens if schools don't get checks from Uncle Sam and you say, well, I can't afford it.

[56:20](https://realalpha.app/v/Dtjhtm_TW2E/?t=3380) Schools go out of business. Yeah. You've seen their entire business model and price margins change with the increased government intervention so there are ways the government can intervene usually in a regulatory way to protect consumers to protect americans but people you know you're