full ack. "effectively insured" can only mean: no insurance, but never mind, it´s safe.

well i think it´s bitfinex trying to reposition itself. now that gox is away and the toal sum of lended $ approaches 17 Mio again, maybe they think: no more need for the geek-hangout-style site, now we are big bussines..
imho the market is going to crash hard soon and face a very long bottom-time until it goes up again, maybe more than a year, maybe the higher fees are there to accumulate some reserves.. or to cash out as long as it works..
anyway, my guess is, that they´re not gonna discuss tha changes

i wonder, are they actually reinvesting profit? and if yes, in which features? i got the impression service doesnt get better. do you remember the discussion when the guy left bitfinex and claimed that he´s not an employee but a share-holder? there were stories about investors that greatly helped to fund the site and this one chinese guy who provides the insurance and so on. could it be that those guys made such good deals, that nearly all the profit goes to them? btw, is the bitfinex forum open again to new users?