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KINDA DEADLINE – Today is the deadline for millions of uninsured Americans to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act – a.k.a. Obamacare – or face a fine of $95 or 1% of income (whichever is higher). That is unless you live in one of the states that do not rely on the federal marketplace and have set their own deadline, or you simply check a blue box on healthcare.gov that says you've tried enrolling but aren't quite done. This completely honor-based "grace period" should extend until about mid-April. The intended goal is to get as many people signed up as possible – especially young people, whose premiums help cover the more expensive care of senior citizens (and people who eat waffle tacos for breakfast) – and avoid traffic jams on healthcare.gov, which has already had its problems. But the actual effect might be just the opposite: according to a new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, half of uninsured American adults don't know when the sign-up deadline is (answer: sorta today) and half intend to remain uninsured. If you are one of them, here's the information you need.
REVOLVING DOOR – In the case of the faulty ignition switch that has been linked to 13 deaths and caused General Motors to recall 2.6 million cars, attention is now shifting to federal regulators. According to a House subcommittee memo released yesterday and explained here by the New York Times, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration twice refused to open an inquiry into the issue, in 2007 and 2010, ignoring the warnings of its own investigators, who reported that the switch had disabled air bags in several accidents and caused at least four deaths. The GM case also serves to highlight the close ties between corporations, their law firms and the regulators who oversee them, with top employees often going through a revolving door between the private and public sectors. The New York Times' Christopher Jensen and Matthew L. Wald write of the NHTSA:
"That knowledge of how the
agency works can “absolutely” make a difference when it comes to
protecting consumers, said Joan Claybrook, who headed the agency from
1977 to 1981.
Former agency employees know
how to present information to maximize chances that it will limit a
recall or even divert an investigation, she said, “and that is the harm
because they are hired guns essentially.”ELEVENTH HOUR – The latest report from the UN panel of scientists on climate change, the IPCC, was released early this morning. If you thought warnings couldn't get much more dire, you were wrong. Scientists urged governments to do more, faster to cope with climate change's existing and future consequences. According to the IPCC, climate change is already affecting food supplies, hurting the poor, wreaking coastal infrastructure and endangering biodiversity. Its effects will only get worse, too. The word "risk", NBCNews notes, is used on average five times per page. The tone of the report is particularly noteworthy because the need for political consensus this time did not water it down. Writes Eric Holthaus of slate.com:
What makes the new IPCC statement so striking is its process. The entire 44 page summary was agreed to line-by-line by scientists and political representatives from more than 110 governments during a marathon session over the last week. Simply because of the way it was constructed, this report instantly becomes the most authoritative ever written on the subject of climate change impacts and the long-term consequences of current (in)action. Fast-growing China must agree with tiny Maldives, and the relatively rich United States must align with poor governments like Tanzania.
SHORTCUTS – The best-selling author of Moneyball and The Big Short, Michael Lewis, is everywhere in financial media for the launch of his new book, "Flash Boys". Lewis' new target? High-speed trading. Lewis says the market is rigged against anyone but the fastest of high-speed traders, who are able to anticipate what you will buy and buy it first, thus driving up the price. All in a matter of milliseconds. He highlights a young Canadian trader who figured out what was happening when his purchase order were consistently only half-filled: some high-speed traders have access to a faster, proprietary fiber optics connection to the markets, which allows their order to get through milliseconds before those of other investors who rely on the "public" connection – not just the casual day trader, but also major pension and hedge funds. The process is not illegal, Lewis concedes, only doesn't seem quite fair. "If it wasn't complicated, it wouldn't be allowed to happen," he said on 60 Minutes yesterday (the clip is worth seeing, it makes things crystal clear). The complexity disguises what is happening. If it's so complicated you can't understand it, then you can't question it."
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