Rising old used car prices help push poor Americans over the edge

FREEPORT, Ill. (Reuters) - For America’s working poor, an often essential ingredient for getting and keeping a job – having a car – has rarely been more costly, and millions of people are finding it impossible to keep up with payments despite prolonged economic growth and low unemployment.

More than 7 million Americans are already 90 or more days behind on their car loans, according to the New York Federal Reserve, and serious delinquency rates among borrowers with the lowest credit scores have by far seen the fastest acceleration.

The seeds of the problem are buried deep in the financial crisis, when in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, automakers slashed production. A decade later, that has made a relative rarity of used 10-year-old vehicles that are typically more affordable for low-wage earners.

According to data provided to Reuters by industry consultant and car shopping website Edmunds, the average price of that vintage of vehicle is $8,657, still nearly 75% higher than in 2010 despite some softening in prices over the last year. The average new car, in contrast, has seen a price rise of 25% in that same time period.

“This is pinching people at the worst point possible,” said Ivan Drury, Edmunds’ senior manager of industry analysis. “If you need basic A to B transportation, you have to get an older car that needs more repairs and has more wear-and-tear issues.”

Monthly auto payments for Americans making under $40,000 have remained flat since 2017, while those in higher wage brackets have seen their payments rise, according to a Cox Automotive Inc analysis for Reuters.

On the face of it, this might seem like good news. But to Cox chief economist Jonathan Smoke, it indicates poorer Americans are stretched so thin they cannot afford to pay more.

“They just don’t have any flexibility to increase their payment,” Smoke said.

Weak lending standards in recent years are partly to blame for the rising delinquency rates, which Warren Kornfeld, a senior vice president on Moody’s financial institutions team, said are approaching record highs despite a solid economy.

Auto lenders are belatedly tightening lending standards, but it may already be too late, he said.

“The economy is masking the true performance of auto loans,” Kornfeld said. “If we hit a downturn today, the performance of auto loans would not look very good.”

Research from the New York Fed earlier this year showed that while delinquency rates among borrowers with high credit scores have remained steady and low, for subprime borrowers they have been rising, pushing up the overall delinquency rate. Around 8% of loans originated by lower-score buyers with a credit score below 620 were categorized as seriously late, “a development that is surprising during a strong economy and labor market,” Fed researchers wrote.

‘HARD TO MAKE ENDS MEET’

Like many Americans, for Hollis Heyward no car means no job. The 30-year-old father of two makes $10 an hour working at a warehouse in Freeport, a rural town of 25,000 about 115 miles (185.07 km) northwest of Chicago.

Heyward can only get to work by car.

In the midst of a divorce, all he could afford was a gray 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix with close to 200,000 miles on it, which he bought for $1,300 cash - a fraction of the average new car price.

Suddenly also stuck paying off the loan on his future ex-wife’s car, Heyward had to rework the loan with local used-car dealer Gordy Tormohlen of Good People Automotive. Under his “workout” deal, Heyward is paying the loan’s principal only and Tormohlen has waived the interest payments. Heyward’s monthly payment is now around $120 per month, down from around $350 before the workout.

“Right now, it’s hard to make ends meet,” said Heyward. “But I am not the kind of guy to walk away from my commitments.”

Tormohlen, 59, a second-generation dealer, said his business is up 10% this year as auto finance companies tighten lending standards. He said the market feels like it did before the financial crisis hit in 2008, when consumers were over-extended with debt.

“Americans have grown too comfortable with debt and the time has come to pay the piper,” he said.

Tormohlen is a “Buy Here, Pay Here” dealer, offering subprime loans that he finances himself at 19%, which is higher than a bank but lower than many finance companies.

He said he can work directly with struggling customers like Heyward, whom he has known for a decade, but worries that large finance companies with tens or hundreds of thousands of borrowers will be in deep trouble when a downturn hits.

Indeed, according to the New York Fed, more than 1 million more Americans are behind on their car loans now than at the peak of delinquencies in 2010 after the financial crisis.

“The big lenders who do not know their customers are going to have a problem when the economy turns,” Tormohlen says.

“LIVE BEYOND YOUR MEANS”

Expensive older used cars are exacerbating the problem and it may take years for them to return to more affordable levels.

George Augustaitis, director of automotive industry analytics at CarGurus Inc (CARG.O), an online marketplace for new and used cars, said late this spring his team started to notice an “accelerating decline” in the number of available vehicles under $10,000, which typically would include vehicles between eight and 12 years old.

In an analysis for Reuters, CarGuru’s data shows a falling share of inventory of Great Recession-era cars, while the number of online “leads” from consumers seeking those vehicles has remained steady.

In fact, the average American car is the oldest on record, according to IHS Markit, and CarGurus’ Augustaitis said the available inventory of vehicles costing under $10,000 will not return to more normal levels until 2022, reflecting rising car production after the Great Recession.

Ken Shilson, president of the National Alliance of Buy Here, Pay Here Dealers (NABD), said American consumers have become too comfortable with debt and subprime customers have been “poisoned” by easy access to capital for much of the long economic expansion. But he added those customers will be forced by tighter underwriting to seek even older vehicles.

“The American way is to always live beyond your means and Americans aren’t good at making life adjustments,’ Shilson said. “But there’s a reality check coming and many subprime buyers will be forced to find more affordable transportation.”

Reporting By Nick Carey; Editing by Dan Burns and Andrea Ricci

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REACTIONARY WHITE SNOWFLAKE STUDENTS DECRY BEING TOLD THEY HAVE PRIVILEGE BY BOOK BURNING

A Cuban-American author canceled her speaking event on diversity at a Georgia university after students were filmed burning her book
Frank Olito

Jennine Capo Crucet cancelled her second speaking engagement. Cindy Ord/ Getty


At Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Cuban-American author Jennine Capo Crucet gave a speech about diversity and white privilege.
One student asked if she had "the authority to address issues of race and white privilege on campus," which prompted an angry exchange amongst students in the auditorium.
Crucet later learned that students were filming themselves burning her book on campus.
The author decided to cancel her second speaking engagement at the university.
Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Jennine Capo Crucet, a Cuban-American author, canceled her second speaking event at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro after her first talk was interrupted by an angry exchange among students. The author later learned that students were burning her book on campus.


Crucet was on campus Wednesday to talk about diversity and to read from her book "Make Your Home Among Strangers," which was assigned as mandatory reading for all freshmen students. The book follows a Cuban-American student as she acclimates to an elite college environment.

At her talk on Wednesday, a white student stood up and asked if Crucet had "the authority to address issues of race and white privilege on campus," according to a statement the author released.

"I noticed that you made a lot of generalizations about the majority of white people being privileged," the student asked, according to the school newspaper, The George-Anne. "What makes you believe that it's okay to come to a college campus, like this, when we are supposed to be promoting diversity on this campus, which is what we're taught. I don't understand what the purpose of this was."

The questions prompted students to yell at each other from across the auditorium.


"I came here because I was invited and I talked about white privilege because it's a real thing that you are actually benefiting from right now in even asking this question," Crucet responded over students' shouts.

After the event, Crucet learned that students were burning her book on campus. Another student tweeted at the author, writing, "Are you usually that racist or are you putting on a front to promote your pointless and shitty book at my college? Work on your ignorance and racism toward white people."
—elaina⭐️ (@elainaaan) October 10, 2019

Georgia Southern spokeswoman Jennifer Wise told the Daily Mail that the students will not be disciplined, as they were exercising their first amendment rights.

In response, Crucet canceled the second speech she was expected to give.

"This book began as an act of love and an attempt at a deeper understanding," Crucet said in her statement. "I hope that GSU can act from the same place and work to affirm the humanity of those students who might understandably feel unsafe in the aftermath of the event and the book burning and that the campus continues the difficult and necessary conversation that began in that auditorium."

The NBA faces a billion-dollar crisis over one executive's tweet about Hong Kong. Here's why China is so hard for Western brands to break into.
Alexandra Ma

A composite image of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, a now-withdrawn Tiffany & Co. ad campaign, and Versace chief creative officer Donatella Versace. All of these brands have courted Chinese consumers' anger in recent months. Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images; Dolce & Gabbana/Instagram; Evan Agostini/Invision via AP

The NBA this week became the latest in a slew of foreign brands who have landed in hot water in China.
Dozens of Western brands have angered Chinese consumers with their marketing or public statements, and many still appear to be struggling to learn their lesson at high costs.
Though the mistakes range from apparently racist ad campaigns to a failure to represent China's perceived borders, it all boils down to one fundamental misstep, experts told Business Insider — a lack of respect.
"People underestimate what the Chinese consumer feels and thinks," said Fenella Barber, founder of Bao business-relations advisory. "We assume from the West that this authoritarian state is sitting heavy on China [...] there's just more to the debate than that."

The NBA faces a billion-dollar crisis in China as all of the league's partners in the country suspended their ties over Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey's tweet in support of the Hong Kong protesters, and basketball fans threatened to boycott its games.

The league is learning what many Western brands have in recent years — that China is an immensely difficult market to cater for.

In recent months, a slew of companies from Dolce & Gabbana to Marriott International have had to apologize to Chinese consumers — for reasons from displaying maps that exclude Chinese-claimed territories, to showing seemingly racist ads — or risk losing billions of dollars in revenue.

Chinese shoppers sit in front of the designer Miu Miu store in Beijing in 

August 2015. Kevin Frayer/Getty

Some of those apologies have failed to stick, however. D&G, once a popular brand among China's middle class, has suffered from weak sales in the country for months after the fashion house depicted a Chinese model struggling to eat Italian food with chopsticks in a November 2018 ad campaign.

Business Insider spoke to two experts to understand why China is such a fragile market, and why so many Western brands still appear to be struggling in the country. Both declined to directly discuss Chinese politics due to the sensitive nature of their work.

'It's about respecting your market'

Here are some examples of how brands have landed in hot water in China in the past year alone:
D&G's ad campaign last year appeared to mock Chinese culture. Amid the backlash a woman also published screenshots appearing to show co-founder Stefano Gabbana making racist comments about Asians.
Brands including Versace, Swarovski, and Calvin Klein referred to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan as Chinese territories. (Hong Kong and Macau are semi-autonomous Chinese cities. Taiwan is a self-governing island which China claims as its own.)
Tiffany & Co published an ad campaign that depicted a Chinese model striking a pose similar to a symbol of the Hong Kong protests. Though the company said the photograph was shot in May — before the protests even began — the campaign was released in October, at the height of the tensions.

All of these cases show one fundamental misstep done by the brands, Chinese consumer experts say: They all appeared to show a lack of respect and knowledge of the country's culture and politics.

A screenshot from a Tiffany & Co ad campaign, which featured a Chinese model striking a pose similar to that used in the Hong Kong protests. The company has since removed the ad campaign. Tiffany & Co.

The majority of Chinese consumers are patriotic and willing to punish people who mock them — like consumers in any other country would be, said Fenella Barber, the founder of Bao Advisory, a business-relations advisory based in London and Shanghai.


"They're [Chinese people] proud of where they've come to," Barber told Business Insider, referring to the country's economic and social development into a superpower. "If they feel put down for whatever reason by a foreign company, they're quite happy to jump on the bandwagon."

"But where they [companies] are targeting the money and they do bad advertising, and to be honest, that's just a lack of respect," she said, referring to the D&G ad. "They haven't really understood the market and they've done a pastiche of China in some way and expect that to work. That's just — really?"

A Dolce & Gabbana ad campaign in November 2018 showed a model 

eating traditional Italian food with chopsticks. Dolce & Gabbana/Instagram

The Chinese government has also weighed in on some of these controversies in the past — the Chinese Consulate in Houston criticized Morey's tweet, for example — but most of these brands had been rowing back their comments to appease consumers, rather than the Communist Party.

China's leaders and citizens are particularly sensitive about issues of sovereignty — like Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan's perceived place in the country — and many foreign brands have had to issue apologies highlighting their respect for China's borders.


"[Sovereignty] is incredibly important to the Chinese people [...] so to have someone else be flippant about it" is particularly offensive to them, Barber said.

"Chinese soft power might not work well internationally, but it works very well at home," she added.

Read more: China is waging war against a cafe because it served coffee to Taiwan's president
—Norman Hermant (@NormanHermant) October 7, 2019



"You cannot separate politics and culture any more than you can anywhere else," Domenica di Lieto, CEO of digital marketing agency Emerging Comms, told Business Insider.


"For example, Brexit is a political, legal, business, and social story that incorporates a range of views from other sides, with many based on inherent beliefs. People have to respect that."

"It's not really political, it's about respect," she added. "It's about respecting your market and your consumers and understanding them, and understanding the motivation, and being very clear that you understand them."

Barber added: "I think people underestimate what the Chinese consumer feels and thinks. They're not all put upon. I think we assume from the West that this authoritarian state is sitting heavy on China — I think there's just more to the debate than that."

Di Lieto noted, however, that public criticism of brands who have shown apparent disrespect to consumers isn't unique to China. Last year, BECCA Cosmetics received widespread criticism on Twitter after people accused it of darkening a white model's skin tone to demonstrate the deeper shades.

People hold up their phones to record fireworks during China's National Day celebrations in Beijing on October 1, 2019. This year also marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Aly Song/Reuters

The Chinese are buying on their own terms now

The Chinese market can bring huge revenues — mainland consumers spent 170 billion yuan ($23 billion) on luxury goods alone in 2018, according to consultancy giant Bain & Company — but it's also one of the trickiest to capture.


Foreign brands can no longer operate on the belief that just because their campaigns work in the West, they will in China too, both experts said.

"For a long time, people were happy to buy Western products or a Western idea," Barber said. "That's not necessarily true anymore. In China's case, things are changing, and the nuances haven't necessarily changed within the Western businesses' mindset."

"China doesn't like to be seen as a cash cow," she added.

"China wants to be welcomed into the world and its people want to be given respect. The other thing that's often misunderstood is that Chinese don't necessarily want to buy into the whole American, Westernized dream, and the West is quite slow to catch on to that."


Di Lieto also said: "For years Chinese consumers have been very patient with Western companies that have benefitted hugely from their income while not always giving appropriate consideration to their culture."

But now, Barber says, "the Chinese are patriotic, nationalistic, happy to come down strong on a Western company if they upset the national image."

Read more: The NBA has already felt 'economic impact' from Daryl Morey's pro-Hong Kong tweet — here all the moves that have been made by China

The Chinese are huge shoppers: Here, packages await delivery at an unnamed distribution center in the country ahead of Singles' Day, the country's version of Black Friday. VCG/Getty Images

Foreign brands are learning — at huge costs — that the speed and method of rowing back comments are affecting their market.


The NBA risked billions of dollars in advertising and broadcasting rights not after Morey deleted his tweet and distanced the team and league from his views, but after Commissioner Adam Silver defended Morey's right to freedom of expression.

Di Lieto said: "A lot of crises escalate because of a lack of apology by the right person with the right sentiment, and there's no point in an apology that sounds like you're just reading off a script either," she added.

"Chinese consumers will see straight through that. The same applies in all countries."

"If the market is important to a company, and where the money is really big it should be ... [that] you just need to tread a bit more carefully and not to treat it so lightly, to give the time and attention to do things properly," Barber added.

Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey. Bob Levey/Getty Images

Some brands have foregone the Chinese markets to make a political stand, though.

After Beijing banned "South Park" from the country's internet over an episode that addressed government censorship, the comedy show's writers show issued a mock apology and wrote a new episode in which character Randy Marsh says: "F--- the Chinese government.

Read more:

The NBA is in hot water after the Houston Rockets GM supported the Hong Kong protests. Here are other times Western brands caved to China after offending the Communist Party.

The NBA is trying to play both sides of the controversial Hong Kong tweet and hoping their long history in China will help

Why Nike is caught in the middle of the NBA's dispute with China

Trump mocks NBA coaches for staying quiet on China controversy, says Steve Kerr 'was like a little boy, he was so scared'

Here's a timeline of Activision Blizzard's terrible week, as it faces fan protests after an esports athlete was punished for voicing support for Hong Kong

Kevin Webb



"Hearthstone" player Blitzchung launched an international controversy after 
he called for the liberation of "Hong Kong" in a post-match interview. Invent Global

A vocal group of fans are boycotting Activision Blizzard after the company punished an esports competitor who spoke out in support of the protests in "Hong Kong.'
Chung Ng Wai, the esports competitor better known as Blitzchung, shouted "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age" in Chinese amid a post-match interview at a Blizzard-sponsored "Hearthstone" tournament in Taiwan on October 5.
Blizzard responded by stripping Blitzchung of his prize money and barring him from "Hearthstone" competitions for one year. Blizzard said Blitzchung's comments had violated the competition rules by damaging the company's image. It later walked back the punishment, reducing it down to 6 months.
Critics have accused the California-based studio of prioritizing its relationship with China instead of protecting free speech — something it denied in a statement issued on Friday night.
The controversy has the potential to spill over into BlizzCon, Blizzard annual fan convention scheduled for November 1st. A group called Fight for the Future plans to organize a protest at the event, to be held in Anaheim, California.

Activision Blizzard is dealing with a fan revolt and intense public scrutiny after punishing Blitzchung — a Hong Kong-based esports competitor who voiced support for Hong Kong's protesters during a Blizzard-run event on October 5.

Blitzchung, whose real name is Chung Ng Wai, is a grandmaster-level player in "Hearthstone," Blizzard's very popular digital card game.

During Blizzard's official broadcast of the Asia-Pacific Grandmasters competition, Blitzchung appeared in a post-match interview wearing a gas mask. As the broadcast ended, Blitzchung shouted "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age," with the apparent support of the two tournament broadcasters.

Blizzard responded to Blitzchung's comments on October 8 by stripping him of about $3,000 in prize money he had already earned for the tournament, and barred him from "Hearthstone" competitions for one year. Blizzard also said it would no longer work with the two broadcasters who were interviewing Blitzchung during his comments. The company deleted the match and interview footage from its official channels as well.

In the blog post announcing Blitzchung's ban, Blizzard said "we stand by one's right to express individual thoughts and opinions," but Blitzchung's comments were deemed to be harmful to the company.

In a follow-up statement issued on Friday night, Blizzard said that it was reducing his suspension (and that of the broadcasters) to six months, and restoring his prize money — though mostly otherwise stood by its earlier positions.

Here's a timeline of Blizzard's terrible week, as fans and politicians expressed their outrage over how the company handled the episode:

Critics accused Blizzard of prioritizing its business interests in China instead of protecting free speech.


"World of Warcraft" is one of Blizzard's most popular games
 "World of Warcraft Classic"/Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard's decision has sparked outrage from Americans, who say Blitzchung's comments should be protected as free speech — especially given that Blizzard is an American company. Supporters of the protests in Hong Kong accused Blizzard of compromising its principles to protect its business interests in China.

Hong Kong has been under a condition of civil unrest for more than four months. Millions of people have marched to demand sovereignty from mainland China and protest its socioeconomic conditions. The ongoing protests have already garnered international attention, with the territory's increasingly complex relationship with China's communist government as a core issue.

China spends more money on video games than any other country in the world, making the market a vital part of Blizzard's business. Tencent, one of China's biggest companies and the largest video-game publisher in the world, owns a 5% stake in Blizzard's parent company, Activision Blizzard.

Blizzard is the latest American company to face criticism for its relationship to China. The NBA is also embroiled in its own controversy involving Hong Kong and China after Houston Rockets General Manager Darryl Morey shared a tweet in support of the protests. Morey later apologized and deleted the tweet, but the situation has strained the league's relationship with China.

Blizzard's decision drew criticism from US Senators and fellow video game makers.


Blizzard Entertainment

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon were among the many voices that came to Blitzchung's defense, accusing Blizzard of censorship.

"Blizzard shows it is willing to humiliate itself to please the Chinese Communist Party," Wyden tweeted. "No American company should censor calls for freedom to make a quick buck."

Epic Games, the company behind "Fortnite," issued a statement saying that no "Fortnite" players would be punished for sharing their opinion on politics and human rights. Though 40% of Epic is owned by Tencent, China's largest video game publisher, CEO (and majority shareholder) Tim Sweeney said he would "never" allow this sort of punishment for a player.


Outraged fans have vowed to boycott Blizzard games until the company changes its stance on the Hong Kong protests.


Fans filled the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for the finale of
 Blizzard's "Overwatch League." Overwatch League

Upset fans have flooded message boards for Blizzard's most popular games with posts calling for boycotts of Blizzard. The main Reddit board dedicated to Blizzard titles, "r/Blizzard," was temporarily set to private mode on October 8 by the moderators because of the intense backlash. A few posters who shared messages about Hong Kong on Blizzard's own forums had their accounts banned from the site until the year 3019.

"#BlizzardBoycott" became a trending hashtag on Twitter as dozens of people shared screenshots of themselves deleting their Blizzard accounts or canceling subscriptions to Blizzard's "World of Warcraft."

As the public backlash continued, Blizzard employees and esports contractors alike expressed frustration and concern with the company's stance.


An orc statute from the center of Blizzard Entertainment's campus. Activision / Blizzard Entertainment

Hours after Blizzard announced Blitzchung's ban, a former Blizzard employee tweeted that some backlash seemed to be brewing internally: Someone had covered up two of the company's key values — "Think Globally" and "Every Voice Matters" — enshrined on a statue at the company's headquarters.

On October 9, a group of some 30 Activision Blizzard employees staged a walkout to protest the company's punishment of a Hong Kong-based esports competitor who made a political statement during a Blizzard event in Taiwan, according to a report from Blake Montgomery of The Daily Beast.

A photo shared with The Daily Beast and posted on Imgur showed several employees holding umbrellas — an object that has become symbolic of the protests in Hong Kong.

On October 10, Justin "Jayne" Conroy, an coach for a Dallas-based esports team in Activision Blizzard's Overwatch League, was reportedly ordered to delete a tweet that criticized Blizzard's punishment of Blitzchung.

A few hours before Jayne's tweet, "Hearthstone" commentator Brian Kibler announced that he would decline working with the company for the finals of its Grandmasters competition. Though Kibler agreed that Blitzchung had violated the company's policies, he said the punishment seemed too harsh for the situation. Two days later, another "Hearthstone" commentator, Nathan "Admirable" Zamora said he was withdrawing from the event as well.


Some people have started using one of Blizzard's characters as a mascot for the protest, in hopes of straining Blizzard's relationship with China.


Mei from "Overwatch," in her Lunar New Year attire. Blizzard Entertainment

A group of gamers latched onto the idea of co-opting Mei, a Chinese character from Blizzard's "Overwatch," for pro-protest messages. The idea was an attempt to sour China's relationship with Blizzard. China's government has strict regulations on what games are released in the country, and games that promote deeply political messages or rebellion against the government are specifically prohibited.

While Mei isn't normally much of a rebel in her game, fans have taken liberties with her design to make her an emblem of the protests in Hong Kong. This includes draping her in the design of Hong Kong's flag and drawing pictures of her wearing symbols of the protests, like umbrellas and gas masks.

Blizzard's annual fan convention is less than a month away, and a mass protest of the event could be on the horizon.


Blizzard

BlizzCon, Blizzard's fan annual convention, is scheduled for the weekend of November 1. The company typically holds its biggest announcements of the year for the BlizzCon stage, but this year's event could have a much different tone.

An organization called Fight for the Future is organizing a protest to coincide with BlizzCon in Anaheim, California, according to Vice, and protest signs have recently been spotted at official Blizzard esports events.

With less than a month until the company's largest event, the world will be watching to see what Blizzard does next.

On Friday night, Blizzard President J. Allen Brack issued a statement saying that its ‘relationships in China had no influence on our decision’ to punish Blitzchung.

Blizzard Entertainment

In the statement, Brack says that Blitzchung violated Blizzard's rules around keeping its official channels focused on the game, but that it was walking back his suspension to only six months — and the same again for the on-air casters involved. Brack also indicated that "we now believe he should receive his prizing," though he didn't offer specifics.

You can read the full statement here.

INSIDE BLIZZARD
REGARDING LAST WEEKEND’S HEARTHSTONE GRANDMASTERS TOURNAMENT
Blizzard Entertainment

October 12, 2019

Hello Blizzard Community . . .

I want to take a few minutes to talk to all of you about the Hearthstone Grandmasters tournament this past weekend. On Monday, we made the decision to take action against a player named blitzchung and two shoutcasters after the player shared his views on what’s happening in Hong Kong on our official broadcast channel.

At Blizzard, our vision is “to bring the world together through epic entertainment.” And we have core values that apply here: Think Globally; Lead Responsibly; and importantly, Every Voice Matters, encouraging everybody to share their point of view. The actions that we took over the weekend are causing people to question if we are still committed to these values. We absolutely are and I will explain.

Our esports programs are an expression of our vision and our values. Esports exist to create opportunities for players from around the world, from different cultures, and from different backgrounds, to come together to compete and share their passion for gaming. It is extremely important to us to protect these channels and the purpose they serve: to bring the world together through epic entertainment, celebrate our players, and build diverse and inclusive communities.

As to how those values apply in this case:

First, our official esports tournament broadcast was used as a platform for a winner of this event to share his views with the world.

We interview competitors who are at the top of their craft to share how they feel. We want to experience that moment with them. Hearing their excitement is a powerful way to bring us together.

Over the weekend, blitzchung used his segment to make a statement about the situation in Hong Kong—in violation of rules he acknowledged and understood, and this is why we took action.

Every Voice Matters, and we strongly encourage everyone in our community to share their viewpoints in the many places available to express themselves. However, the official broadcast needs to be about the tournament and to be a place where all are welcome. In support of that, we want to keep the official channels focused on the game.

Second, what is the role of shoutcasters for these broadcasts?

We hire shoutcasters to amplify the excitement of the game. They elevate the watchability and help the esports viewing experience stay focused on the tournament and our amazing players.

Third, were our actions based on the content of the message?

Part of Thinking Globally, Leading Responsibly, and Every Voice Matters is recognizing that we have players and fans in almost every country in the world. Our goal is to help players connect in areas of commonality, like their passion for our games, and create a sense of shared community.

The specific views expressed by blitzchung were NOT a factor in the decision we made. I want to be clear: our relationships in China had no influence on our decision.

We have these rules to keep the focus on the game and on the tournament to the benefit of a global audience, and that was the only consideration in the actions we took.

If this had been the opposing viewpoint delivered in the same divisive and deliberate way, we would have felt and acted the same.

OK, what could Blizzard have done better, and where do we go from here?

Over the past few days, many players, casters, esports fans, and employees have expressed concerns about how we determined the penalties. We’ve had a chance to pause, to listen to our community, and to reflect on what we could have done better. In hindsight, our process wasn’t adequate, and we reacted too quickly.

We want to ensure that we maintain a safe and inclusive environment for all our players, and that our rules and processes are clear. All of this is in service of another important Blizzard value—Play Nice; Play Fair.

In the tournament itself blitzchung *played* fair. We now believe he should receive his prizing. We understand that for some this is not about the prize, and perhaps for others it is disrespectful to even discuss it. That is not our intention.

But playing fair also includes appropriate pre-and post-match conduct, especially when a player accepts recognition for winning in a broadcast. When we think about the suspension, six months for blitzchung is more appropriate, after which time he can compete in the Hearthstone pro circuit again if he so chooses. There is a consequence for taking the conversation away from the purpose of the event and disrupting or derailing the broadcast.

With regard to the casters, remember their purpose is to keep the event focused on the tournament. That didn’t happen here, and we are setting their suspension to six months as well.

Moving forward, we will continue to apply tournament rules to ensure our official broadcasts remain focused on the game and are not a platform for divisive social or political views.

One of our goals at Blizzard is to make sure that every player, everywhere in the world, regardless of political views, religious beliefs, race, gender, or any other consideration always feels safe and welcome both competing in and playing our games.

At Blizzard, we are always listening and finding ways to improve—it is part of our culture. Thank you for your patience with us as we continue to learn.

Sincerely,

J. Allen Brack
President of Blizzard Entertainment

SEE ALSO: Blizzard is under scrutiny from lawmakers, gamers, and maybe even its own employees after punishing a 'Hearthstone' competitor who voiced his support for protesters in Hong Kong 

SEE ALSO:-based game company Blizzard bans pro esports player and confiscates his prize money after he voices support for Hong Kong protest 

THE SAME IS TRUE IN CANADA 

Only half of Gen Xers have a retirement account, and that's a catastrophe in the making

Tanza Loudenback

Gen X is in worse financial shape than millennials when it comes to retirement. Oleg Golovnev/EyeEm

Insider teamed up with Morning Consult to survey more than 2,000 Americans and found that Generation X is in especially dismal financial shape.

Exactly half of Gen Xers said they don't have a retirement savings account, while 13% said they do have one but aren't actively contributing to it.

Millennials may bear the brunt of bad press, but Gen X is arguably in worse financial shape.

Insider recently teamed up with Morning Consult to survey 2,096 Americans about their financial health, debt, and earnings for its new series, "The State of Our Money." Of the total respondents, 566 were Gen X, defined as ages 39 to 54 this year.

According to the survey, exactly half of Gen Xers don't have a retirement savings account. That's only slightly less than the share of millennial respondents who don't have one (54%). That's particularly concerning considering the nearly two-decade span between the youngest millennials and oldest Gen Xers.

While the Silent Generation and early Baby Boomers have relied on a combination of pension benefits and Social Security to make up their retirement income, Gen X has largely had to assume the responsibility of building up their own nest egg, and they're clearly struggling.

All told, only 36% of Gen Xers are actively saving in a retirement account, while 13% have a dormant retirement account. Americans tend to earn the most money from their late 30s to early 60s, making it a crucial period for socking away extra income.

And yet, "I don't earn enough money to save for retirement" was cited as a major reason for not saving by about 62% of those who don't have a retirement plan. Regardless of salary, the financial squeeze for many Americans tends to ramp up during mid-life. They're typically the most expensive years, when buying a house, supporting children, and accumulating debt become the norm.

About 43% of Gen Xers also said unemployment is a major reason they don't have a retirement account. This could be explained, at least in part, by mothers leaving work to care for young children during their 20s and 30s.

Still, according to Pew Research Center, women exiting the workforce to care for children is becoming less common. In fact, 70% of moms with kids under 18 worked in 2015. Many families are no longer relying on a single income to cover expenses and save for financial goals like retirement.

A separate survey from Schwab Retirement Plan Services found that even those who are contributing to a 401(k) aren't saving enough. The typical Gen Xer thinks they'll need $1.8 million for a comfortable retirement, but they saved an average of just $9,500 last year — half of the maximum allowable contribution.

Lambda School is Silicon Valley's big bet on reinventing education and making student debt obsolete. But students say it's a 'cult' and they would have been better off learning on their own.

Rosalie Chan

Austen Allred, CEO and co-founder of Lambda School Lambda School


Some of Silicon Valley's best and brightest believe that Lambda School is a new model for vocational education that could make student debt obsolete.
The big innovation: Rather than paying up-front for tuition to its 9-month coding bootcamp program, Lambda School asks most students to sign income sharing agreements — where they pay a portion of their salary for the first two years after getting a job that pays $50,000 or more.
However, we spoke to former and current Lambda School student, who say that it falls short of that promise, with under-qualified instructors and an incomplete curriculum that requires them to rely on self-teaching and outside resources to complete the program.
Those students say that the program is like a "cult," where they worry about criticizing Lambda School for fear of getting kicked out, and where they're encouraged by staff — including CEO Austen Allred — to respond to critical social media posts with positive testimonials.
The Lambda School students say that when they voice concerns about the program or complain of harassment from fellow students, they get brushed off, ignored, or made to feel they were the problem.
Lambda School is a graduate of the famed Y Combinator startup accelerator program, and has attracted $48 million in venture capital from investors including GV (formerly Google Ventures), Stripe, and even Ashton Kutcher.
"While we can't respond to specific inquiries out of respect for privacy, we appreciate the concerns of any and all of our students. We are continuously aiming to be transparent on where we need improvement and the steps we are taking to address them," CEO Austen Allred said in a statement.


Erica Thompson has always had an interest in technology. Her father, a municipal transit operator, taught her the basics of programming, which she practiced while he built computers in his free time.


She initially studied music education, but after her father had a heart attack, she decided that it might be time to pursue a career in programming. She had just wrapped up a software development course at a local college in Los Angeles when she saw a Facebook ad for Lambda School — an online coding bootcamp that requires no upfront tuition.

She decided to take a chance to hone her skills and make herself more competitive in the job market, without paying out of pocket.

It's that very sales pitch that's driven Lambda School, based in San Francisco, to a position of prominence in Silicon Valley. A graduate of the famed Y Combinator startup incubator program (previous graduates include Airbnb and Dropbox), it's gone on to raise over $48 million from investors like GV (formerly Google Ventures), Stripe, and even Ashton Kutcher. The school boasts that there are nearly 3,000 students currently enrolled.

What makes it unique from other coding schools is its income sharing agreement (ISA) model. Students sign a contract, agreeing to pay 17% of their income for two years when they get a job paying at least $50,000 a year, with a maximum payout of $30,000. It also offers a less-popular choice to pay a flat $20,000 in tuition, instead.


To many, Lambda School represents a better way of thinking about higher education and vocational training, as Wired put it in an August headline: "Lambda School's For-Profit Plan to Solve Student Debt." And because students attend Lambda School remotely for eight hours a day, it's theoretically open to anybody, anywhere. The model has proven so appealing, other startups are following suit with their own ISA-based business models.

Lambda School boasts of its successes, saying that graduates of the 9-month program go on to work for companies like Amazon, Google, or Microsoft. According to the Council on Integrity in Results Reporting, 60.9% of Lambda School students were employed 90 days after graduation, going up to 85.9% within 180 days. Graduates earn a median annual base salary of $60,000, according to that same study — although a Lambda School spokesperson puts that figure at $70,000, and notes that many graduates are in rural areas where average pay is lower.

What Thompson found, however, was that Lambda School was very different than what she hoped it would be. She says that she was brushed off by staff when she reported racist harassment from two of her classmates.

Not long after, Thompson says she was told that she was in danger of being removed from the program if she didn't hit certain goals. She says that she ultimately was kicked out of Lambda School, towards the end of the program, just days after raising her concerns directly with CEO and cofounder Austen Allred.


"It seems that if anyone speaks up and is too critical of the program in any of the channels, they react as if the student is the problem, though they mandate feedback daily," Thompson told Business Insider.

This is indicative of the general atmosphere at Lambda School, according to 5 former and current students, most of whom asked for anonymity for the sake of their careers. We also spoke to applicants and other people familiar with the Lambda School program.

They say that while Lambda School pitches itself as a first step towards better job opportunities, the reality can be more underwhelming: The curriculum is lacking, the instructors are often under-qualified, and students are afraid to speak out in a culture described as being akin to a "cult," they say.

"Lambda School is not worth the life it takes from you, and it's not worth the dollar amount you agree to pay them back," a former student said.


Lambda School did not make Allred available for an interview. In a statement, Allred said:

"While we can't respond to specific inquiries out of respect for privacy, we appreciate the concerns of any and all of our students. We are continuously aiming to be transparent on where we need improvement and the steps we are taking to address them."

"We adopted the ISA model to open up access to students from all walks of life and are constantly iterating on our curriculum and processes based on their unique experiences and feedback. At the same time, we're working to streamline those same feedback loops to make them as effective as possible. There's always room to improve, and we welcome any additional feedback on how we can continue to raise the bar."
'Trust the process'

Allred is known to many in Silicon Valley as a charismatic leader with a compelling personal background. He moved to San Francisco from Utah to break into the tech industry, and says he first lived in a car while his career got off the ground.


He's said that he decided to start Lambda School under the ISA model after being "taken aback" when speaking with someone who couldn't afford the $10,000 to attend a coding bootcamp. The goal, Allred has said, is to increase the economic opportunity for anybody, anywhere, who wants to build their own lucrative career in tech.

However, Lambda School students say that in reality, the program feels like a "cult" that attracts people down on their luck or otherwise in tough financial situations, and then locks them into an intensive program that ultimately leaves them on the hook to pay back thousands of dollars in their future wages.

"Lambda School is literally a cult," a former student said. "Cults are hard to leave. Cults play on your emotional vulnerability. Cults keep you mentally and physically exhausted so you can be more compliant…They're specifically targeting people who are vulnerable in hard-life situations."

To that point, 5 current and former Lambda School students tell Business Insider that they feel that they can't criticize or critique the program.


A recent blog post from Allred highlights Lambda School's process for gathering feedback, where students are given constant opportunity to submit their thoughts, both directly to instructors and anonymously.

However, the students say they don't feel comfortable airing any grievances: They're not only concerned about getting kicked out of the program, but also that they may end up blacklisted by companies like Nexient that are known to hire Lambda School graduates.

Often, when students do bring up concerns about the school, they're just told to "trust the process," two sources say.

"It almost feels like gaslighting," a student said. "A lot of students have brought up similar concerns, and they're continually disregarded. There's a mantra they keep repeating: 'Trust the process of Lambda.'"

Troll defense

Allred, for his part, is known for personally responding to critics of Lambda School on social media. "People want to think that Lambda is a scam, because they want to believe the results we're producing are impossible," Allred recently told Wired.

It's common for students to spring to the school's defense, too.

For example, when somebody posted to Twitter saying "Lambda School is trash," or when a Reddit user last year wrote a post saying "Is Lambda School really terrible?" users claiming to be Lambda School students chimed in with their thoughts. While those posts can sometimes contain critiques of the program, they're usually positive on Lambda School overall.

"Your experience will vary based on who is your instructor and your PM, as with everything, some are better than others, but honestly, overall, I have had a really good experience, and I'm very happy with it," one commenter said.


However, these posts are at least sometimes made because Lambda School encourages students to defending the company's reputation in public, students say – with management, staff, and even classmates all known to encourage students to respond to any haters.

A screenshot of Lambda School's main chatroom on Slack, shared with Business Insider, shows Allred himself thanking students for responding to a critical Twitter post. "Thanks guys for tweeting there, appreciate that," Allred wrote, as he shared a link to yet another Twitter post.
'The curriculum is garbage'

The Lambda School students that Business Insider spoke with said that the actual curriculum has its problems, too. Expectations are unclear, they say, with constantly-shifting deadlines and classwork assignments that are themselves packed with software bugs.

Some students say that to actually master the programming topics at hand, they had to use outside resources like Treehouse, Khan Academy or YouTube, because the Lambda School program itself wasn't sufficient. One former student goes so far as to say that it doesn't do enough to teach the fundamentals of computer science.


"Everyone knows the curriculum is garbage," another former student said. "They know it's not working. If you're keeping up, you either already had a foundation or you're self-teaching. The actual school is not effective at teaching. People are going outside to get what they need."

In general, many graduates who found jobs feel they would have been successful without Lambda School, though the school gets the credit for their success, two former students say.

Ultimately, some students say, they feel like they would have gotten the same or better education in coding with self-guided learning programs from places like Udemy or Khan Academy.

"Lambda can do exactly the same as $10 course from Udemy," a former student said. "If you are able to get any resource on the Internet and spend the next few weeks actually reading through it and coding small projects, you're going to get a better experience than Lambda."


Students also give poor marks to the quality of teaching staff at Lambda School. Three current and former students complain that instructors are often themselves graduates of other coding bootcamps, with little real-world experience. One former student describes the instructors as "highly incompetent."

Among the teaching staff is Ryan Allred, brother to CEO Austen Allred, who works at Lambda School as a data science instructor. However, his LinkedIn profile indicates that his experience in the tech industry consists of graduating from a web development bootcamp and working as an intern in the AI-related field of deep learning.

A Lambda School spokesperson defends his experience, and says he's "one of our higher rated instructors at the school." When Business Insider checked his LinkedIn profile after reaching out to Lambda School for comment, Ryan Allred's previous experience had changed from "Deep Learning Intern" to "Deep Learning Engineer."

Current and former students also say that Lambda School wouldn't be able to run without the labor of its team leads: students who are employed by the school to lead team meetings, fill out forms rating student performance, and conduct one-on-one meetings to review code.

'Disorganized'

Former and current Lambda School students describe the program as "disorganized," with topics, projects, and even the length of the program itself seemingly changing at random.

Starting in May, Lambda School extended the length of the program from 30 weeks to 9 months. A spokesperson says that existing students were given the option to either finish the program as scheduled, switch to the 9-month timeline, or else leave the program without triggering their ISA. No students stayed on the 30-week plan, the spokesperson said.

However, three sources say that students weren't warned of the change at all and suddenly had their expected date of graduation extended by about a month with no warning. That presented a potential financial risk, the sources say, given that many simply don't have the time to work paying jobs while enrolled in the intensive program.

This kind of disorganization appears to have led to at least one costly mistake for Lambda School: In August, Business Insider reported that Lambda School was facing a $75,000 fine for failing to obtain a key registration with educational authorities in the state of California, where it's headquartered.


At the time, Allred blamed Lambda School's former legal counsel for the decision not to apply for the registration in the first place. Failing to obtain that registration could endanger its ability to continue to operate, regulators told Business Insider. Currently, Lambda School's registration application is under review, authorities say.

Read more: The hot Silicon Valley coding bootcamp Lambda School is paying a $75,000 fine for not registering properly with the state of California

Two people also say that the application process for Lambda School is confusing and inconsistent. Susan Money, from Michigan, said that she was unimpressed with the quality of a prerequisite screening class required to enter the program, and she never heard back from Lambda School after she completed it.

Another, Jacqueline Homan of Pennsylvania, who applied for the program hoping it would lift her out of poverty, said that she withdrew from that same class for medical reasons, and was told that she could re-enter at any time — but was bumped from Lambda School's Slack without notice in the interim period and couldn't raise Lambda School for help, even though she contacted the school to add her back.


Later, when Homan posted about her Lambda School experience on Quora, Allred responded, saying Homan's statements were false and that she was not accepted. Homan says she never received any rejection email.

"I basically got blown off," Homan told Business Insider. "If a program like that, that practically guaranteed job placement, if something like that isn't for someone like me, who the hell is it for?"
Diversity matters

Lambda School prides itself on a diverse student body. Because classes are held remotely, and because there's no upfront cost, it can accommodate students who might otherwise not have access to an education in programming. However, current and former students say that they've been disappointed that Lambda School's teaching staff isn't diverse, in turn: most of the school's instructors are male or are not from underrepresented groups.

"Diversity is an important area of focus for the team," a Lambda School spokesperson said. "There's been little turnover on the instruction team, and the initial team was hired primarily on referrals from the founders' home state of Utah, not a very diverse state. As we've grown we've adopted a rigorous hiring process that has resulted in 5 of the last 7 instructor hires coming from underrepresented groups."


Still, students say, Lambda School can sometimes make for a learning environment that's uncomfortable for students from underrepresented groups, with staff doing little to intervene. Students recall instances of racist memes spreading through the Slack chatrooms, or when a white male student wore a Mexican sombrero to a presentation in front of the class.

On one occasion, a former student says, instructors started referring to each other as "Nazis." Lambda School says it was unaware of this incident and could not find a record of it on its internal Slack.

"We take all forms of racism, sexism, and other discrimination very seriously," the spokesperson said. "Many students have been removed for violating our student code of conduct, which is primarily focused on ensuring a positive, safe learning environment for all students. We actively respond to inappropriate, unprofessional, and discriminatory content."

When students do report harassment, however, they're brushed off, ignored, or made to feel that they were the problem, students say. That was the case with Thompson, the student who says she was dismissed from the program after complaining of racist harassment.


"They advertise the school as being for non-traditional students who may not be able to afford other routes into the industry, but those same students are also less likely to be able to get justice if something goes wrong," Thompson said.
'You have to buy into it'

So, ultimately, is Lambda School worth it? That appears to be a matter of perspective.

The $60,000 median base salary of Lambda School graduates, as reported by the Council on Integrity in Results Reporting, is slightly below the $65,000 median across all coding bootcamps according to Course Report, which studied programs such as Hackbright Academy, Hack Reactor, and Fullstack Academy. However, going with Lambda School's own figures of $70,000 makes for a more favorable comparison.

A Lambda School blog post says that it plans to share more data on graduate salaries and employment each quarter, starting early next year.


Furthermore, the income sharing agreement model doesn't necessarily mean that Lambda School is cheaper than its competitors in absolute terms. Both the $20,000 flat-rate tuition plan and the $30,000 cap on ISA repayments over the two-year period are well over the average bootcamp tuition of $13,584, also according to Course Report.

To be sure, not all Lambda School students pay as much as $30,000. According to Lambda School's own math, if a student makes the minimum $50,000 annual salary that triggers the ISA, that student would be on the hook to pay $708.33 a month, totaling to nearly $17,000 at the end of the two-year repayment period.

A spokesperson points out that Lambda School's program is significantly longer than other programs of its like, and says that it includes more resources to help students get a job after graduation. The spokesperson said that the various coding education programs are very different, and it can "be like comparing apples and oranges." The spokesperson said that "we have always been open and upfront about the cost of our program but believe it is important to also be transparent about other school factors."

There still remains the question of cost, however, given that Lambda School's ISA means that students will be giving up a portion of their earnings after graduation for the two-year repayment period.


"That is an affordability concern for students who are getting a job and will still have to make ends meet, pay for shelter, pay for food, and take care of medication and other life expenses," Joanna Darcus, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, told Business Insider.

Still, despite these concerns, a former student says it's no surprise why so many of their fellow students and graduates jump to Lambda School's defense on social media and elsewhere. For them, Lambda School is a big, bold bet on their future success. That means that when things do go wrong, they may not want to admit it — even to themselves, the former student said.

"If you're in Lambda School as a student, you have to buy into it," a former student said. "You told your friends and family and girlfriend and kids that you're going to become a software engineer. You don't want to look like a loser if you didn't make it. I think people put all their accountability on themselves for making it work when the school is failing them."

Elizabeth Warren expressed her ire over Facebook running fake ads for Trump — by running a fake ad

Lauren Frias

Reuters


2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren ran a fake advertisement on Facebook claiming that CEO Mark Zuckerberg endorsed Trump's re-election, taking a jab at the social media platform for allowing the same for President Donald Trump.
Networks like CNN and NBCUniversal have refused to run ads for Trump with "demonstrably false" claims about former Vice President Joe Biden, but Facebook did.
The ads began circulating starting Thursday, CNN reported, and it has already been displayed on tens of thousands of newsfeeds nationwide.
Facebook spokesman Andy Stone issued a statement Friday in response to Warren's ad, saying that the social media platform seeks to protect free speech.

2020 candidate Elizabeth Warren has expressed her ire for big tech companies in the past, most recently amid reports that Facebook allows President Donald Trump to lie in ads. So how does she fight them?

By telling a lie, of course.

Her campaign posted a fake advertisement on the social media platform claiming that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg endorsed Trump's re-election. But she didn't run the ad without a disclaimer.

"You're probably shocked," the ad read. "And you might be thinking, 'how could this possibly be true?'"

"Well, it's not. (Sorry.)"

Warren's advertisement goes on to chastise Facebook for running false advertisements for Trump, while most television networks have denied to run the same advertisements. Networks like CNN and NBCUniversal have refused to run ads for Donald Trump with "demonstrably false" claims about former Vice President Joe Biden.
—Ryan McCarthy (@mccarthyryanj) October 3, 2019


Read more: Facebook confirms Donald Trump can lie in ads, but he can't curse

"If Trump tries to lie in a TV ad, most networks will refuse to air it," the ad stated. "But Facebook just cashes Trump's checks."

The ads began circulating starting Thursday, CNN reported, and it has already been displayed on tens of thousands of newsfeeds nationwide. Facebook spokesman Andy Stone issued a statement Friday in response to Warren's ad, saying that the social media platform seeks to protect free speech.

"If Senator Warren wants to say things she knows to be untrue, we believe Facebook should not be in the position of censoring that speech," Stone said.
—Julia Carrie Wong (@juliacarriew) October 11, 2019