Financial Times Archives

Credit card defaults jump to highest level since 2010: Report

December 31, 2024
According to the credit rating agency TransUnion, the average American has about $6,300 in credit card debt. Now, a report shows that credit card defaults are rising as family budgets can’t keep up with expenses and the cost of living.

According to the Financial Times, during the first nine months of 2024, lenders were forced to write off $46 billion in delinquent credit card balances. Officials said that’s a 50% jump from 2023 and the highest rate since 2010.

Making matters worse, Moody’s Analytics reports that people who earn at the bottom third of the income ladder are tapped out and now have zero savings.

The New York Federal Reserve released figures showing that credit card debt in September reached $1.17 trillion, the highest level in Fed data-keeping. Household debt, including mortgages, car loans and student loans reached close to $18 trillion, another record. Analysts say some of that is due to inflation and higher interest rates.

As January rolls in, so do the holiday spending bills. Lending Tree says more than one-third of Americans took on additional debt this holiday season, racking up an average of $1,181 in credit card spending.
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Meta and Google allegedly targeted teens with ads: report

August 9, 2024
Meta and Google conspired to target 13 to 17-year-old children with Instagram ads on YouTube, according to a new report from the Financial Times. In doing so, Google went against its own rules for how to treat minors online.

The Financial Times said it received official documents and spoke to people familiar with the matter. The publication reported Google worked on a marketing campaign for Meta and showed advertisements promoting its video and photo platform, Instagram, to teenagers using a loophole.

Google reportedly targeted a group of users labeled as “unknown” in its advertising system. The people familiar with the matter said Google knew those “unknown” users were mostly people under the age of 18.

According to Google’s website, “‘unknown’ refers to people whose age, gender, parental status or household income we haven’t identified.”

Google has advertising rules in place banning ads targeted for users under the age of 18 based on demographics. The Financial Times reported Google employees knowingly disguised the advertising campaign’s true intent.

Google and Meta allegedly partnered with Spark Foundry and launched the ad campaign in the U.S. in May, just five months after Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to parents who accused his company of allowing their children harm on the social media platform.

The companies ran a trial marketing campaign in Canada between February and April of 2024.

The marketing campaign reportedly came about to promote Facebook, which was losing younger users to rival TikTok, and to boost Google’s advertising earnings.

The Financial Times said it spoke to a representative with Google who said the company has launched an investigation and that the campaign has been canceled.

In July, the U.S. Senate passed two bills aimed at protecting children online. One piece of legislation is the Kids Online Safety Act and would require social media companies to enact a “legal duty of care” in protecting kids. The other is the Children’s and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, which allows kids and parents more control over settings and blocks targeted ads for underage users.
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Survey reveals nearly half of US parents support adult kids financially

March 22, 2024
A recent study from Savings.com found that nearly half of American parents (47%) are providing financial assistance to their adult children, emphasizing economic challenges faced by younger generations. According to the study, rising costs of living, including increased expenses for food and housing, have led many young adults to rely on parental support for their day-to-day expenses.

The study reveals that parents are allocating approximately 2.4 times more funds to support their adult children than they are investing in their own retirement accounts.

On average, these adult children are around 22 years old. Despite the expectation that adult children should become financially independent by age 25, the reality is that many continue to rely on parental support well beyond that age.

Approximately 21% of parents are assisting millennials and members of Generation X with monthly financial support ranging between $907 and $960.

For Generation Z adults, aged 18-27, the average monthly support is even higher at about $1,515, particularly for covering college-related expenses.

Across all age groups, parents are shouldering the financial burden for essentials such as groceries, rent, mortgage payments, tuition, and health insurance. However, as living costs continue to rise, more adults are either opting or being compelled to reside with their parents.

A recent Harris poll found that 61% of American renters across all age brackets express concerns about their prospects of ever owning a home due to the escalating costs associated with homeownership. Younger generations face additional financial hurdles, including higher levels of student loan debt and lower wages, further exacerbating their financial predicaments.
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Russia war-gamed using nuclear weapons against China, leaked docs say

February 29, 2024
Leaked documents from Russia are shedding light on Moscow’s strategy for using nuclear weaponry. The leaked documents also revealed new insights into the Kremlin’s relationship with China, showing that Russia had mapped out potential conflict scenarios with its southern neighbor.

The Financial Times obtained the allegedly classified Russian military documents. There were 29 leaked files dated from 2008 to 2014, making all off them at least 10 years old. Despite the age of the files, they still contain significant information from an intelligence perspective.

According to the Financial Times, the strategies outlined relate specifically to Russia using tactical nuclear weapons, which are designed to be used on the battlefield rather than Cold War-era mega bombs.

According to the documents, if Russia lost 20% of its ballistic missile submarine fleet — which is capable of firing nuclear cruise missiles — Moscow would consider firing tactical nukes at its enemies.

If Russia loses 30% of its nuclear-powered attack submarines or if several airfields go offline, Moscow may use tactical nukes.

However, Russia saying it would use nukes is not new. Russian state media has propaganda bragging about Moscow’s nuclear prowess. Since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he has touted the country’s nuclear ability to the point that some military leaders and experts are questioning how serious Putin is about using the alleged weaponry.

The documents show Russia was war-gaming possible conflict scenarios with China, including laying out examples of when a first-strike tactical nuclear option would be viable.

If China launched a ground assault, Russia determined a tactical nuclear strike would be an appropriate response against a second wave of Chinese troops.

However, in the time since the leaked documents were written, Moscow and Beijing have grown close — especially since the war in Ukraine began.

Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping now have what they call a “no limits” friendship. China holds the upper hand in the two country’s relationship, and its leaders have spoken multiple times about the need to avoid nuclear conflict.
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Biden weighs cutting off Huawei from US tech, China calls it ‘abuse of state power’

January 31, 2023

The Biden administration is reportedly considering cutting off Huawei from all American technology. The move would be the biggest crackdown on the Chinese telecommunications company to date.

The Financial Times was the first to report the possibility, with a source saying it would be “catastrophic” for the company. The harsh course of action is in part inspired by the U.S. government’s fears that Huawei helps China engage in spying. Huawei has denied this claim.

The Trump administration first blacklisted Huawei in 2019 by adding it to the Entity List. The list contains those suspected of being involved in or at risk of getting involved in activities that risk national security. Since being added to the list, U.S. suppliers like Intel and Qualcomm have needed government approval to sell to the tech giant.

The Biden administration has continued the squeeze on the company in the name of national security. According to multiple reports, a decision has not yet been made on whether to indefinitely halt export licenses previously granted to U.S. suppliers in limited circumstances.

“We are gravely concerned about the relevant reports and keeping a close eye on how things will develop,” Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said. “China firmly opposes the United States’ generalization of the concept of national security and its abuse of state power to suppress Chinese companies unreasonably and without any bottom line.”

Huawei was once the world’s largest smartphone seller, overtaking Samsung in 2020, but the U.S. trade ban has hurt its standing. It’s also a global leader in 5G, mainly expanding out of Asia and Europe. However, the U.S. fears Huawei’s 5G infrastructure could contain backdoors giving the Chinese government access to spy on and attack telecommunications systems.

Trade restrictions have certainly hurt the tech giant over the past few years, but U.S. suppliers also stand to lose business over the standoff. Intel declined to comment on this report and Qualcomm did not respond to requests for comment.
TikTok parent company ByteDance fires employees who tracked journalists

December 23, 2022

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance fired one executive and another resigned after it was revealed the Chinese tech giant tracked journalists. An internal investigation by ByteDance found employees wrongfully obtained the data of certain U.S. users, including their IP addresses.

The company claimed internal auditors were trying to find the source of suspected leaks, according to materials reviewed by Forbes. The journalists they tracked worked for Forbes, Buzzfeed, and the Financial Times, organizations that have all written stories based on private, internal documents.

“The misconduct of certain individuals, who are no longer employed at ByteDance, was an egregious misuse of their authority to obtain access to user data. This misbehavior is unacceptable, and not in line with our efforts across TikTok to earn the trust of our users,” TikTok spokesperson Hilary McQuaide told Forbes.

The tracking began after BuzzFeed News published a story stating it had obtained recordings of internal company meetings that revealed ByteDance employees in China had accessed user data in the U.S.

All of the employees involved in what was called Project Raven were fired by the company. Two were located in China while the other two were in the United States.

“I was deeply disappointed when I was notified of the situation … and I’m sure you feel the same. The public trust that we have spent huge efforts building is going to be significantly undermined by the misconduct of a few individuals,” ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo said in an email to employees.

TikTok said it’s in the process of moving U.S. customer data to an Oracle cloud, but historical data is still available on ByteDance’s Chinese servers. The company has repeatedly claimed it plans to delete that historical data.

In recent years, critics of TikTok have warned that members of the Chinese Communist Party could get access to Americans’ data. TikTok has an estimated 100 million users in the U.S. A number of states have banned the app from government issued devices.

Credit card defaults jump to highest level since 2010: Report

Survey reveals nearly half of US parents support adult kids financially

Russia war-gamed using nuclear weapons against China, leaked docs say

Biden weighs cutting off Huawei from US tech, China calls it ‘abuse of state power’

TikTok parent company ByteDance fires employees who tracked journalists

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Credit card defaults jump to highest level since 2010: Report

Meta and Google allegedly targeted teens with ads: report

Survey reveals nearly half of US parents support adult kids financially

Russia war-gamed using nuclear weapons against China, leaked docs say

Biden weighs cutting off Huawei from US tech, China calls it ‘abuse of state power’

TikTok parent company ByteDance fires employees who tracked journalists