Fox News host Tucker Carlson came to the conclusion on Sunday that low student loan rates were to blame for long-term joblessness.
In an interview on Sunday, conservative economics professor Peter Morici explained that President Barack Obama's health care reform law had caused a "disaster" because only 47 percent of the population was employed.
"So here's the part I can't get past, 47 percent of the population works full time," Carlson said. "That means the other 53 percent is being supported by that 47 percent. That's not a good ratio."
"Absolutely not," Morici replied. "Look what's happening with young people, my students, many of them are getting into these part-time jobs, some of them not very meaningful. You know, you got a guy with a masters degree working at Starbucks so he lives with his parents."
"What's going to happen to these young people and all their big student loans? The answer is very bad things," he added. "The president has been buying lower unemployment rates by essentially providing very cheap student loans and keeping people out of the labor market."
"Exactly," Carlson agreed. "So, cheap student loans keep people out of the labor market. This is a dangerous spiral."
The interest rate on a key type of federal loans doubled from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent earlier this month after Republicans and Democrats in the House were unable to reach an agreement on keeping rates low.
