Word: inertia
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...impressive bipartisan consensus regarding the power of inertia. For all the disagreements over the public option, almost everyone agrees that making it the default is a big deal, and that the compromise allowing opt-outs is a pretty modest compromise. That's because reams of studies have shown that default settings really, really matter. If Reid's legislation had omitted a default public option but allowed states to opt in if they wanted one, insurers would be ecstatic and liberals would be furious...
...There is, however, one big difference between the Reid legislation and other opt-out strategies: a state is not a person. An individual might end up in a public-health plan out of pure inertia, but it's not clear whether a conservative state like Louisiana would exhibit the same status-quo tendencies. Governor Bobby Jindal is an outspoken opponent of the public option, and an ambitious politician; Louisiana legislators might be eager to distance themselves from President Obama and the Democratic Congress...
...enrolled in 401(k)s when they're eligible. Companies would establish default settings to boost returns and make the portfolios safer as workers near retirement. People who worked for companies that didn't offer 401(k)s would be automatically enrolled in savings accounts. In other words, make inertia work for employees, not against them. However, a number of economists and policy experts think that while those changes would help, upgrading the 401(k) alone won't save the nation's retirement-savings problem. (See pictures of the recession...
...harsh language was intentional. "We talked about it beforehand and intended to deliver a message," says a senior Treasury official. Both on Capitol Hill and in the regulatory agencies, Geithner felt, the "searing experience" of last fall's near meltdown of the global economy was falling prey to inertia and in some cases lobbying. "The reality is that there are pretty powerful vested interests fighting this," says the senior Treasury official. "It's not the entire industry, but they have an interest in fighting change...
...This inertia of habit may ensure that after 50 years, even a debilitated ETA could be hard to eradicate. "Think of those communist parties in Western Europe, or neo-Nazi groups, who don't have the slightest chance of ever returning to power - they're still around," Sánchez-Cuenca says. "An organization is a lot harder to kill than an individual...