also, ezra klein. columnist at "washington post," nbc analyst. and carl gibson, contributing editor to reader supported news. his latest article entitled -- why i'm choosing to pay $300 to stay uninsured. let's go straight to carl gibson's article. carl, have to tell you when i saw this yesterday, i read this, i said we got to get carl on the show to talk about this. a website send out a lot of e-mails with stories. invaluable stuff. helpful to the show. wanted to get the plug in, carl about your operation. this is what you wrote that struck me. it is something that i have been expecting to see at some point. you wrote through healthcare.gov, i found as a single 26-year-old male living in dane county, wisconsin who expects to make $30,000 next year. the most affordable health insurance package for me comes with the deductible anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000. that's roughly 15% of my income. that comes out of -- pocket before my health insurance even kicks in. this affordable care would cost me about $150 a month. why the hell would any young perso

joining me from washington nbc policy analyst "washington post" ezra klein. don't understand the republican case against unemployment benefits given the fact they are basically 100% spent back into the economy which benefits businesses, which benefits walmart, landlords. i don't get it. can you explain it to me? >> there is noot strong case or really any case in this kind of economy to not extend these benefits. you're dealing with not just 1.3 million in the next five months but 5 million over the next year. you mentioned annie's piece in the "new york times" one of the catch-22s, vicious, the longer you're unemployed the harder it is to get work again. this is the exact group we're talking about. we're not talking all unemployment benefits. federal are an emergency extension. in the states they go up to 26 weeks. federal benefits go up to 99 weeks, catches you up there. then it got brought down to 72 weeks. these people are going to get hurt. these aren't people who aren't looking for a job. these are people who often have sent out 100, 1,000 resumes and ca

ezra klein, sam stein. thank you both for joining us tonight. >> thank you. >> coming up -- greetings from the craziest political fund-raising letter i have ever read. and president obama had a polite 10-second encounter that included a handshake with the cuban president raul castro at nelson mandela's memorial. so, of course, republicans lost their minds. including one republican who very proudly shook hands with the dictator who ordered the bombing of an american airliner that killed 189 americans. and, we could talk about what president obama said at nelson mandela's memorial service today or we could just let him say it. we will bring you the highlights of president obama's moving and eloquent eulogy of his hero. finally tonight. a very special video. starring kid president. ♪ you know, ronny... folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. and how happy are they jimmy? i'd say happier than a bodybuilder directing traffic. he does look happy. get happy. get geico. fifteen minu

what percentage of them have actually a problem at that point. >> msnbc policy analyst ezra klein. ra. remember to tune in tomorrow for chris matthews' interview with president obama as heart of the "hardball" college tour from american university. watch it at 7:00 p.m. right here on msnbc. >>> if you read only one thing this morning, i find it really interesting and often surprising the topics that get people all riled up. for example, if you've turned on a tv or read an entertainment magazine, chances are you know that nbc tomorrow night is doing a live version of the much-beloved "sound of music." and boy, are people opinionated about, a, the remake and, b, carrie underwood versus julie andrews. so if your brain is hurting from all the obama care talk, take a break, check out my must read. it's up on our facebook page. and whether you love it or hate it, here's what some people are saying. carrie underwood can sing. she has a beautiful voice and that's all that matters. but then we have another person who says, well, we don't have it up there but i read it and what it said on my

up next, judd gregg and ezra klein weigh in on that one. >>> and another first for pope franz. "time" isn't the only magazine naming him person of the year. why this latest honor matters a whole lot when it comes to lbgt rights around the globe. which rewards her for responsibly managing her card balance. before receiving $25 toward her balance each quarter for making more than her minimum payment on time each month. tracey got the bankamericard better balance rewards credit card, which fits nicely with everything else in life she has to balance. that's the benefit of responsibility. apply online or visit a bank of america near you. [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. [ m'm... ] great taste. [ tapping ] sounds good. campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good.® so i can't afford to have germy surfaces. but a fresh sheet of bounty duratowel leaves this surface cleaner than a germy dishcloth. it's durable. and it's 3 times clean

ezra klein and eugene robinson will be joining me. [ female announcer ] can it get any cleaner? with swiffer bissell steamboost... [ steam hisses ] guys! [ female announcer ] ...it can. introducing swiffer steamboost powered by bissell. it gets the dirt that mops can leave behind with steam-activated cleaning pads that break down dirt and lock it away. how did you get this floor so clean? ♪ steamboost, sir! [ female announcer ] not just clean, steamboost clean. now save $15 by mail-in rebate when you purchase a swiffer bissell steamboost starter kit. >>> the idea that so many children are born into poverty in the wealthiest nation on earth is heartbreaking enough. but the idea that a child may never be able to escape that reality because of a community that views her future as their own, that should affect all of us. >> the president focused on rising number and equality and called it a fundamental threat to the american dream and challenged republicans his opposition to stop opposing his increase in the minimum wage. >> if republicans have concrete plans that will actually redu

joining me now, ezra klein, "washington post" columnist and msnbc policy analyst. re today's hearing we had the secretary calling the website launch flawed, calling it unacceptable. she announced three different steps to move forward and they included having the inspector general review the sight's development, create and appoint a chief risk officer, update and expand employee training. do you think that's going to be enough to prevent the problems, and also to reinvigorate an american crowd that needs to find health care? because it's not so much the website that is slowing people down from getting health care, it's actually people not looking. >> so i think that you have to look at those as sort of side issues. she's going to congress and telling them she's got some new things she's going to do. she's got some plans. the main thing for the website is still actually fixing the website. it's gotten a lot better, it isn't where it needs to be yet. there are a lot of people who are trying to sign up in the first month, month and a half when it was broken because they

ezra klein and eugene robinson will be joining me. my mother and my grandmother are very old fashioned. i think we both are clean freaks. i used to scrub the floor on my knees. [ daughter ] i've mastered the art of foot cleaning. oh, boy. oh, boy. oh, boy. [ carmel ] that drives me nuts. it gives me anxiety just thinking about how crazy they get. [ doorbell rings ] [ daughter ] oh, wow. [ carmel ] swiffer wetjet. you guys should try this. it's so easy. oh, my. [ gasps ] i just washed this floor. if i didn't see it i wouldn't believe it. [ carmel ] it did my heart good to see you cleaning. [ regina ] yeah, your generation has all the good stuff. [ daughter ] oh, yeah. [ regina ] yeah, your generation has all the good stuff. so ally bank has a that won't trap me in a rate. that's correct. cause i'm really nervous about getting trapped. why's that? uh, mark? go get help! i have my reasons. look, you don't have to feel trapped with our raise your rate cd. if our rate on this cd goes up, yours can too. oh that sounds nice. don't feel trapp

so our lived experience doesn't quite back it up. >> ezra klein, great to see you today. thank you, sir. that brings us to today's big question for you. do you think that the problems with obama care are over now that the website is on the mend? weigh in on twitter and facebook. some of your responses have already come in. we appreciate that. and we want to go back to that breaking news that we told you about last hour. in toledo, ohio, a 14-year-old boy is now in custody after reports of a gunman inside a high school. the superintendent telling nbc news the suspect was holed up by himself in a classroom at scott high school. police say that gunman had a pellet gun. officials say no students were ever in jeopardy and students are expected to be released soon to their parents. >>> developing news now, the ntsb is saying investigators plan to conduct interviews today or tomorrow with the engineer an conductor of the train involved in a deadly derailment in new york city. federal officials say they have successfully removed some data from two black boxes recovered from the t

start with the first point by ezra klein. a crack, is it a temporary one, what do you think? >> this is a big deal, jenna. this is the 14th unilateral change this administration made to obama care without congressional approval. is this even legal? again nobody seems to have a clear answer on that. but the fact that the individual mandate was desend -- the central pillar for obamacare, without it the entire things falls apart, the idea now you have upwards of six million people who had their insurance plans canceled who will now be waived out of obamacare at least for a year, not required under the law to purchase an insurance policy, that means that the whole foundation of this is now going to be shaken to the core. jenna: mark, do you agree. let me ask mark about that. >> -- death spiral. jenna: mark, is it a crack in the foundation that brings the whole thing down? >> i don't think you will be surprised i disagree emphatically with what monica is saying. remember how many people we're talking about. republican ann commentators on this network, 15 million, 10 million people

joining me now, columnist at the washington post, ezra klein, great to have you here. this is outrageous, indefensible that we're doing this. >> so we're cutting the deficit by $20 billion, so -- it is an insane thing where washington is resigned to an unemployment crisis, resigned to letting millions of people go into the rolls of the permanently unemployed. one thing i found about that, aside from the callousness, it is like you're doing them a disservice if they have enough money to feed their family for the next month, it would be a spiritual hollowness, to qualify for unemployment you have to be looking for work. the benefits are what would keep people in the work force instead of dropping out. >> just to be clear, if you qualify for unemployment insurance you have to show that you're looking for work. you have to be pursuing actively. and right now it is not there are jobs falling off job trees as we like to hear. >> the program, that is really the core here. so the argument that rand paul is gesturing towards, i think is what unemployment benefits do is they mak

ezra klein, one more day and one more delay in the rules for enrollment. >> although not a bad delay. i think it's worth being clear about what this deadline is. i don't think it's such a big deadline in the scheme of things. this is a deadline to have insurance that begins by january 1. you can still have one that begins a couple days after that. you can keep signing up. this is simply a deadline to have it by the beginning of the year. this is important. this is important for folks whose plans cancelled. if they don't sign up by tomorrow night, if somebody gets sick or hurt, you could have huge costs. this is simply the end of their ability after tomorrow night to sign up for it such that it will actually trigger before the first of the year. >> i want to take a look at one other change that was made recently and it came up on friday, the president talked about it on friday when he talked to the press. let's listen to that. >> as we are transitioning to a system in which insurance standards are higher, people don't have unpleasant surprises because they thought they had insurance un

let's see if howard dean and ezra klein can talk him into complying with the individual mandate of the buying health insurance. >> a new deadline. >> the administration sort of stretching its deadline. >> the last day to soon of under the affordable care act. >> now it will judge on a case by case basis. >> they're saying they're worried about any kind of

. >> ezra klein thank you for the wisdom on financial services industry and symbiotic skill of expressingat fashion. >> you're blanking welcome, alex. >> before we let you go, standing in the place you're most comfortable, a high school cafeteria. i had to -- >> what? >> i'm sorry. it's not that i don't love you. >> alex, alex, i ate a refectory not a cafeteria to remind you. >> to quote michael steele, ho ho hey. it's the end of the year. anybody final thoughts favorite moments of the year. >> covering the show a great moment, republicans in disarray a fun two weeks. >> republicans get the last word. take that msnbc. thanks so much to everybody. that's all for "now." i'll see you tonight at 5:00 p.m. eastern when i'm hosting ed show. reports with kristen welker in for andrea next. what if we could keep enough plastic waste to cover mt. rainier out of landfills each year? by using one less trash bag each month, we can. and glad forceflex bags stretch until they're full.* so you can take them out less often. >>> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," exchange rate, facing the deadline to

i want to point out what a lot of democrats will point to, ezra klein underlined, 9 had% of hospitals think it will make care better and reduce the per patient operating cost within their particular hospital. if there's any group of people that should know what this law will do and have a good sense of what it will do, it's hospital executives and i think that poll means more than people out in the world saying, i think this is going to be horrible because they've been overaffected by the negative messaging and demagoguing from the right. the other thing to point out, we talk about death spiral if they don't make this march by march 21st and what have. we have an economy with there are multiple companies and millions of new consumers coming in. 40 million people coming into the mall. if you are the company that raises rates, you're less likely to get a larger share of those new consumers coming in. there's a sort of market dynamic that is going to help people and incentivize insurers to keep prices down. i don't think we're going to see a death spiral any time soon. >> look, we have

and the other thing is i know ezra klein, he compared the unemployment benefit to tax cuts. those things help the economy. i'm puzzled. there are unemployed republicans. there are unemployed independents and democrats. this is a bipartisan issue. this should not be about a win or a loss for the president. this should be about collectively working to address the woes of the american economy. >> and they've become so cynical that everything in their minds is about a win or a loss for the president. so they can't grant him even this one thing. and unfortunately we're in a situation with the deal that was just struck where because republicans are seen as the less reasonable party, that actually gives them more leverage going into negotiations. >> they are definitely unreasonable when it comes to anything with the president. and i think that it is bizarre. but what is even more bizarre is that they're hurting people. i mean, you take tea party congressman raul labrador. he's the later republican to oppose raising the federal minimum wage. here's what he says. that's how you make

. >> "washington post" ezra klein called the president's 48 minute speech perhaps the single best economic his presidency. that's in part because it exists to lay out obama's view of the economy. his other views have been about passing legislation, defining campaign themes or positioning himself against republicans. president obama is done running for office. though the president is indeed finished campaigning for office, his remarks did reflect a political calculus. to underscore differences between two parties and show voters once again the choice that lies ahead of them next year. as e.j. dion writes, republicans are betting that obama care and travails will be the deciding issue in the next year's election. obama thinks heg and minimum wage can be linked to other proposals in a larger battle for economic fairness. in another speech doubled down in their agreed upon strategy, repeal obama care. case in point, before the president concluded his remarks house speaker john boehner on the floor of the lower chamber railing against the nation's health care law mostly because that's the only

and ezra klein had a piece today the administration needs, what it is, at least 40% of those enrolled to, if we can roll the teleprompter so i can tell you the young healthy adults. you know, every once in a while people take a nap around here. it's fine. so basically, we need 40% of those young adults for that bottom line goal. and then as julie points out, there is a percentage of those people who came and left that we need to -- that they need to have come back. >> yeah. let's hope that they will come back. and just to be clear, this is not like an obama care theory here. this is just how insurance risk is balanced out in any kind of system like this, that you need younger healthier folk to buy into the system in order to share the risk of the entire system. i would add that the challenge of getting more americans insured is much more important. because, remember, we're essentially already paying for those folk in the most expensive ways. we pay for our uninsured already. i hope that that message can get out there, along with understanding the balanced risk that makes for a more he

you know a lot of this arose from a editorial from "the washington post", ezra klein talking about pick your problem and the frayedoff. steve moore, do you accept the principle there is trade why you have between -- >> no i don't. no, i don't. melissa: you don't? >> if you look in the 19780's, 1990s we had rapid reductions in unemployment, melissa and incomm disparities actually became narrower except the at very top. people at very top who did better. my philosophy about this, as kennedy and reagan said, if you have a rising tide it lifts all boats. people don't care about inequality, melissa, if they're doing better themselves. melissa: maybe you get into the get the problem with one or the oertingerring with it trying to come up with a government solution. for example, when you raise the minimum wage, we cite it on the show, economists from cornell university, if we raise the minimum wage to $10.10, they estimate through mathematics we will lose half a million jobs. harry what do you think? is there a tradeoff trying to micromanage the economy? >> especially when the government is st