NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The breakdown in Ticketmaster’s sales of Taylor Swift tickets is a mess some attorneys general aren’t shaking off.
With fans sharing outrage and heartache over the fruitless hours they spent trying for seats for Swift’s upcoming concert tour, top legal chiefs in Nevada, Tennessee and Pennsylvania have launched investigations into the fiasco.
“Trouble, trouble, trouble,” tweeted Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro in a reference to Swift’s 2012 hit song ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ as he asked the public to file complaints about using Ticketmaster with his office.
Shapiro, a Democrat who recently won Pennsylvania’s governor race, has since thanked people for their “swift response” while noting his office had received “a lot of complaints” to look into.
Over in Tennessee, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said he wants to ensure consumers have a fair shot at buying tickets.
“There are no allegations at this time of any misconduct, but as the attorney general it’s my job to ensure that the consumer protection laws and antitrust laws in Tennessee are being honored,” Skrmetti told reporters.
In 2008, Tennessee enacted a so-called “anti-bot” law that prohibits using certain computer programs to buy large amounts of tickets to concerts and sporting events. However, like most states that have passed similar bans, the law has rarely been enforced.
Meanwhile, in Nevada, the attorney general’s office said it was investigating Ticketmaster for “alleged deceptive or unfair trade practices.”
The trouble began when registered fans given codes for a pre-sale on Tuesday tried to secure tickets for Swift’s 52-date The Eras tour next year. They were quickly met with long delays and error messages that Ticketmaster blamed on bots and historically unprecedented demand. The company then canceled Friday’s sales to the general public.
Swift vented anger and frustration in a lengthy statement, saying she had been assured by Ticketmaster that they could handle the demand.
“It’s really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse,” Swift said.
Ticketmaster said more than 2 million tickets were sold despite the troubles, setting a new single-day record for artists on the platform, and that only 15% of would-be buyers had issues with the process.
“We want to apologize to Taylor and all of her fans – especially those who had a terrible experience trying to purchase tickets,” the company said.
Multiple lawmakers have accused Ticketmaster of abusing its power as the dominant ticket-seller for consumers.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, wrote an open letter to Ticketmaster’s President and CEO Michael Rapino, saying that she’s been skeptical of his company ever since they merged with LiveNation in 2011. Her letter included several questions about Ticketmaster’s business practices that she asked Rapino answer by next week.
Asked about reports that the Justice Department would investigate Live Nation, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment on specifics, but said President Joe Biden has worked to increase competition and limit the power of large corporations, believing that a “lack of competition leads to higher prices, and worse service.”
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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report from Washington D.C.
President Joe Biden’s plan to provide up to $20,000 in federal student loan forgiveness has been blocked by two federal courts, leaving millions of borrowers wondering what happens next. The administration plans to appeal.
Here’s what to know if you’ve applied for relief.
What happens now?
While the application for relief has been taken down from the Federal Student Aid website, applications that have already been filed are on hold while the appeal works its way through the courts.
“Courts have issued orders blocking our student debt relief program,” the Education Department said on its site. “As a result, at this time, we are not accepting applications. We are seeking to overturn those orders.”
A federal judge in Texas ruled that the plan overstepped the White House’s authority. Before that, a federal appeals court in St. Louis put the plan on temporary hold while it considers a challenge from six Republican-led states.
Still, advocates believe the administration will succeed in court.
“We’re really confident they’re going to find a way forward to cancel people’s debt,” said Katherine Welbeck at the Student Borrower Protection Center.
Experts say student loan forgiveness has the potential to end up before the Supreme Court, meaning this could be a lengthy process.
Most people with student loan debt have not been required to make payments during the coronavirus pandemic, but payments are set to resume, along with the accrual of interest, in January.
Biden previously said the payment pause will not be extended again, but that was before the courts halted his plan. He’s now facing mounting pressure to continue the pause while the legal challenges to the program play out.
Borrowers meanwhile are facing a financial deadline, with the student debt repayment hiatus currently in place slated to expire in December, and repayments set to restart in January. If the cases aren’t resolved before then, millions could be on the hook for repayments that they may not have anticipated.
More than 26 million people applied for cancellation over the course of less than a month, according to the Education Department.
About 16 million people already had their applications approved, according to the Biden administration. Yet because of court actions, none of the relief has actually been delivered.
The Education Department will “quickly process their relief once we prevail in court,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Given the uncertainty of the timing of the appeals process, however, it would be prudent for borrowers to plan for full repayment starting in January, higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz recently noted. In other words, borrowers should be prepared to pay back their debts without the forgiveness promised by the Biden administration, Kantrowitz said.
What if I haven’t yet applied for relief?
For those who have not yet applied, the application for debt cancellation is no longer online. Even if the court case resolves in favor of the Biden administration before the end of November, it’s possible that these borrowers will run out of time to get their applications processed before January. But there are still steps people can take to make sure their debt is canceled, should the appeal be successful, according to Welbeck.
“People should still check their eligibility,” she said. “As news changes, people should look out for updates from the Department of Education.”
You can sign up to receive the latest from the Federal Student Aid website here.
Who qualifies, should the appeal succeed?
The debt forgiveness plan announced in August would cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income. Pell Grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, would get an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven, for a total of $20,000.
Borrowers qualify if their loans were disbursed before July 1.
About 43 million student loan borrowers are eligible for some debt forgiveness, with 20 million who could have their debt erased entirely, according to the administration.
For those who have worked for a government agency or a nonprofit organization, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program offers cancellation after 10 years of regular payments, and some income-driven repayment plans cancel the remainder of a borrower’s debt after 20 to 25 years, according to Welbeck.
“Borrowers should make sure they’re signed up for the best income-driven repayment plan possible,” Welbeck said. In July, the administration will be reviewing and adjusting some of the accounts enrolled in these plans. You can find out more about those plans here.
Borrowers who have been defrauded by for-profit schools may also apply for borrower defense and receive relief on that account, Welbeck said.
The Biden administration said Thursday it will make it easier for student borrowers in financial distress to discharge their loans in bankruptcy.
Department of Justice officials said the new rules will make it easier for borrowers who didn’t think they could get relief through bankruptcy to find out whether they can get their loans discharged.
Should I resume payments when the payment pause is lifted?
Advocates, including the Student Borrower Protection Center, are still urging the president to extend the pandemic-era payment freeze, arguing that students are entitled to the promised cancellation before the January repayment date arrives.
That said, Welbeck recommends logging on to your account, making sure you know who your servicer is, your due date, and whether you’re enrolled in the best income-driven repayment plan, as you resume making payments.
The Student Borrower Protection Center is holding regular webinars on how to follow the changing policy in the coming months. You can sign up for those here.
If your budget doesn’t allow you to resume payments, it’s important to know how to navigate the possibility of default and delinquency on a student loan. You can read more about those here. Both can hurt your credit rating, which would make you ineligible for additional aid.
If you’re in a short-term financial bind, you may qualify for a deferment or a forbearance. With either of these options, you can talk to your servicer about ways to temporarily suspend your payments. You can learn more about those options here.
What else should I know?
Watch out for scams and get information only from trusted sources such as the Federal Student Aid site of the Department of Education.
Is it possible the debt won’t be cancelled?
Yes. The issue of debt forgiveness is now before the courts.
The administration is not saying whether or not it’s exploring other options for canceling debt if it loses its appeals. But advocates point to other ways the debt might be forgiven, including through the Higher Education Act.
How do I prepare for student loan payments to restart?
Betsy Mayotte, President of the Institute of Student Loan Advisors, encourages people not to make any payments until the pause has ended.
“I’ve been telling people to pretend they’re paying their student loan, but to put it into an interest-bearing account for now if you’re able,” she said. “Then you’ve maintained the habit of making the payment, but earning a little bit of interest as well. There’s no reason to send that money to the student loans until the last minute of the zero percent interest rate.”
Mayotte recommends that borrowers use the loan simulator tool at StudentAid.gov or the one on TISLA’s website to find the repayment course that best fits their needs. Once you plug in your information, it tells you what your monthly payment would be under each available plan, as well as what the long-term costs amount to.
“I really want to emphasize the long-term,” Mayotte said. “Oftentimes I see people who might be having a financial struggle. They’ll find a lower monthly repayment option, and then, ‘Set it and forget it.’”
Mayotte encourages people to switch to higher payments if their financial situation stabilizes, so the loan doesn’t end up costing more in the long run.
Other useful tips that can shave costs for borrowers
— If you sign up for automatic payments, the servicer takes a quarter of a percent off your interest rate, according to Mayotte.
— Income-driven repayment plans aren’t right for everyone. That said, if you know you will eventually qualify for forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, it makes sense to make the lowest monthly payments possible, as the remainder of your debt will be cancelled once that decade of payments is complete.
— Re-evaluate your monthly student loan repayment at tax time, when you already have all your financial information in front of you. “Can you afford to increase it? Or do you need to decrease it?” Mayotte said. “Always look at your long-term student loan management strategy.”
— Break up payments into whatever ways work best for you, whether that means two installments during the month, so it’s not a large lump sum at the end or the beginning, or setting aside cash in envelopes for designated purposes.
“Even if it’s an extra $5 or $20 a month, that’s a good strategy,” Mayotte said. “If they can afford to pay a little more per month — the more you pay and faster you pay, the less you’ll pay in the long run.”
Mayotte gave one example of a borrower with debt from higher education in the six figures. She was recently married, and she and her husband and kids decided to save every five dollar bill in a cookie jar to go towards the loans.
“That added up to a few more hundred dollars each quarter,” Mayotte said. “Everybody has a different financial personality. There are those who are really good at budgets. There are people who need to play games and trick themselves. And people shouldn’t judge each other people’s financial personalities.”
FILE – WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner speaks to her lawyers standing in a cage at a court room prior to a hearing, in Khimki just outside Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, July 26, 2022. A Russian court has on Tuesday, Oct. 23 started hearing American basketball star Brittney Griner’s appeal against her nine-year prison sentence for drug possession. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)
The OPEC+ alliance of oil-exporting countries on Wednesday decided to sharply cut production to support sagging oil prices, a move that could deal the struggling global economy another blow and raise politically sensitive pump prices for U.S. drivers just ahead of key national elections.
Energy ministers meeting at the Vienna headquarters of the OPEC oil cartel cut production by 2 million barrels per day starting in November at their first face-to-face meeting since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Besides a token trim in oil production last month, the major cut is an abrupt turnaround from months of restoring deep cuts made during the depths of the pandemic and could help alliance member Russia weather a looming European ban on oil imports.
In a statement, OPEC+ said the decision was based on the “uncertainty that surrounds the global economic and oil market outlooks.”
The impact of the production cut on oil prices — and thus the price of gasoline made from crude — will be limited somewhat because OPEC+ members are already unable to meet the quotas set by the group.
The alliance also said it was renewing its cooperation between members of the OPEC cartel and non-members, the most significant of which is Russia. The deal was to expire at year’s end.
Receding oil prices
The decision comes as oil trades well below its summer peaks because of fears that major global economies such as the U.S. or Europe will sink into recession due to high inflation, rising interest rates meant to curb rising consumer prices, and uncertainty over Russia’s war against in Ukraine.
The fall in oil prices has been a boon to U.S. drivers, who saw lower gasoline prices at the pump before costs recently started ticking up, and for President Biden as his Democratic Party gears up for congressional elections next month. Nationwide, the average price for a gallon of regular gas is $3.83, down a June peak of $5.02, according to AAA, although fuel costs have edged up in recent weeks.
“An average cut of 2 million barrels a day should push gasoline prices higher, but not at a pace that would bring back prices to the $5 a gallon that led to the Biden administration draining supplies from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist for LPL Financial, said in an email.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday that the U.S. would not extend releases from its strategic reserve to increase global supplies.
Biden has tried to receive credit for falling gas prices, with administration officials highlighting a late March announcement that a million barrels a day would be released from the strategic reserve for six months. High inflation is a fundamental drag on Biden’s approval and has dampened Democrats’ chances in the midterm elections.
Oil supply could face further cutbacks in coming months when a European ban on most Russian imports takes effect in December. A separate move by the U.S. and other members of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies to impose a price cap on Russian oil could reduce supply if Russia retaliates by refusing to ship to countries and companies that observe the cap.
New sanctions on Russia
The EU agreed Wednesday on new sanctions that are expected to include a price cap on Russian oil.
Russia “will need to find new buyers for its oil when the EU embargo comes into force in early December and will presumably have to make further price concessions to do so,” analysts at Commerzbank wrote in a note. “Higher prices beforehand — boosted by production cuts elsewhere — would therefore doubtless be very welcome.”
Dwindling prospects for a diplomatic deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program have also lowered prospects for a return of as much as 1.5 million barrels a day in Iranian oil to the market if sanctions are removed.
Oil prices surged this summer as markets worried about the loss of Russian supplies from sanctions over the war in Ukraine, but they slipped as fears about recessions in major economies and China’s COVID-19 restrictions weighed on demand for crude.
International benchmark Brent has sagged as low as $84 in recent days after spending most of the summer months over $100 per barrel.
At its last meeting in September, OPEC+ reduced the amount of oil it produces by 100,000 barrels a day in October. That token cut didn’t do much to boost lower oil prices, but it put markets on notice that the group was willing to act if prices kept falling.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is hosting Pacific Island leaders for a two-day summit as the U.S. looks to counter China’s military and economic influence in the region. Pacific Island leaders, meanwhile, see an even more pressing concern: climate change.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken kicked off the summit on Wednesday with a luncheon for the Pacific Island leaders and other senior officials from the region. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry will hold a climate roundtable with the leaders, and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan will join them for a dinner hosted by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Biden is set to address the leaders at the State Department on Thursday and will host them for a dinner at the White House. The leaders also are to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. business leaders.
Leaders from Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and New Caledonia are attending. Vanuatu and Nauru are sending representatives, and Australia, New Zealand and the secretary-general of the Pacific Island Forum sent observers, according to the White House.
“This summit reflects our deep, enduring partnership with the Pacific Islands; one that’s underpinned by shared history, values, and enduring people-to-people ties,” Blinken told leaders as he opened the summit. Talks are expected to touch on climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and economic recovery, maritime security, environmental protection and the Indo-Pacific.
The first-of-its-kind summit comes as the administration has sought to demonstrate that the U.S. remains committed to being a enduring player in the region.
While the high-level gathering is welcomed by the region’s leaders as a signal of Biden’s commitment to the Pacific, there’s also a healthy skepticism about whether the United States will remain engaged for the longer term in the Pacific Islands. The area has received diminished attention from the U.S. in the aftermath of the Cold War and China has increasingly filled the vacuum, analysts say.
The Solomon Islands has signaled it was unlikely to sign on to a joint statement that the U.S. hoped to have hashed out by the end of the summit, according to a diplomat familiar with summit planning.
The diplomat, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the resistance is driven in part by the Solomon Islands’ tightening relationship with Beijing and in part is seen as an effort to press the U.S. for greater economic assistance.
A senior Biden administration official who briefed reporters before the summit said discussions on the joint statement are still ongoing.
For the Biden administration, stemming the growing influence of China is a high priority. But for many of the Pacific Island leaders, climate change is the existential crisis that demands attention above all else.
Last week at the U.N. General Assembly, Prime Minister Kausea Natano of the tiny island of Tuvalu described how rising sea levels have affected everything from the soil that his people rely on to plant crops, to the homes, roads and power lines that get washed away. The cost of eking out a living, he said, eventually becomes too much to bear, causing families to leave and the nation to disappear.
“This is how our islands will cease to exist,” Natano said.
In June, Inia Seruiratu, Fiji’s minister for defense, said at the Shangri-La Dialogue that “machine guns, fighter jets, gray ships and green battalions are not our primary security concern.”
“The single greatest threat to our very existence is climate change,” he said.
Plans for the summit were announced earlier this month, just days after the Solomon Islands called on the U.S. and Britain not to send naval vessels to the South Pacific nation until approval processes are overhauled. The Solomons in April signed a new security pact with China — a moment that analysts say has created increased urgency for the Biden administration to put greater focus on the region.
The United States and Britain are among countries concerned that a new security pact with Beijing could lead to a Chinese naval base being constructed less than 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) off Australia’s northeast coast.
Darshana Baruah, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Beijing has been more present in the region in the last decades.
“The first questions from the islands to the United States are, ‘Is this going to last beyond the current tense cycle? Are you going to keep showing up,?’” Baruah said. “The second question is, ‘What kind of messaging is this sending across the Indo-Pacific? Are you mistakenly giving the impression that if you want Washington’s attention you must grab Beijing’s purse?’”
In the leadup to the summit, Pacific Island leaders made clear that they want increased U.S. assistance on battling the impacts of climate change and help for their economies recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a senior Biden administration official.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, acknowledged that the “lapse” in the U.S. efforts in the region comes up in “every meeting” with Pacific Island leaders. The White House plans to announce its first U.S. Pacific Island Strategy and announce that the Democratic president will appoint a U.S. envoy to the Pacific Islands Forum.
The U.S. will also be seeking to mend relations with the Marshall Islands, which for decades has been a strong ally but which is in a bitter dispute over a treaty that’s up for renewal.
Just last week, the Marshall Islands pulled out of a negotiating session with the U.S. over their Compact of Free Association, which expires next year. The Marshall Islands says the U.S. isn’t engaging in its claim for proper reparations from the legacy of U.S. nuclear testing in the islands.
The Marshall Islands says there was extensive environmental and health damage from the dozens of tests in the 1940s and ’50s, which a settlement in the 1980s fell well short of addressing.
The U.S. has treated the Marshall Islands, along with nearby Micronesia and Palau, much like territories since World War II, and observers worry that a weakening of those ties would play into the hands of China.
The administration in recent months has sought to have greater presence in the region. In February, Blinken became the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Fiji in 37 years. And in recent months, the U.S. along with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the U.K. created an informal group aimed at boosting economic and diplomatic ties with Pacific Island nations dubbed Partners in the Blue Pacific.
During the Fiji visit, Blinken announced the U.S. would open an embassy in the Solomon Islands. The U.S. operated an embassy in the Solomons for five years before closing it in 1993. Since then, U.S. diplomats from neighboring Papua New Guinea have been accredited to the Solomons, which has a U.S. consular agency.
Guadalcanal, the largest landmass in the Solomon Islands, was the site of the crucial battles between Allied forces and Japan early in World War II.
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Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington and Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed reporting.
