Furthermore, the robo-signing scandal has been swept under the rug, leaving a cloud on many real estate titles. In that scandal, it appears that the Obama administration really pressured principles state AG holdouts in NY and California.
Also, in the settlement, 2d lean home equity line of credit holders, who are the big banks, have been pushed ahead of 1st lean mortgage holders in priority of payoff, which is against hundreds of years of common law in real estate going back to England.
The blog "Naked Capitalism" has been excellent on the problems with the big banks, real estate and federal actions. I highly recommend it if you are interested in the real estate end of the financial meltdown and efforts to pro pr it up.
As to the auto bailout. It was great, but there is still an incredible amount of work to do to bring back just a basic manufacturing plant. I have two male cousins living in my home state of Michigan. One was laid off during the real estate crash, has a degree from Michigan State (not a shabby place) and a good work record. He can't even get work as a janitor. Thank heavens his wife is a teacher in an NEA school and will likely not get shoved aside. His brother, also an MSU graduate, is hanging by his finger nails in a firm that writes technical manuals for start-up computer application companies.
Near my hometown, where my Mom lives, a South Korean company was putting up an advanced manufacturing facility. As soon as the South Korean trade agreement went into effect, it went "POOF" and the manufacturing was returned to South Korea.
Now, we have the Trans Pacific Partnership, I suppose to support the supposed "Pivot to the Pacific." As you may know, China is having all kinds of border disputes with Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Burnie and others. China claims all sorts of rocks and shoals that have oil and gas under them as well as almost the entire South China Sea and the channel between it and the Indian Ocean through which all shipping from that Ocean to the South China Sea.
If we support our military treaty supporters against China, even in a very mild way, the current Chinese regime may retaliate. Since just about everything in our stores comes from China, and some parts for our military equipment, like chips, may be sourced from China, we are not in a position to tolerate Chinese trade retaliation.
So instead of supporting policies that would bring more manufacturing home where it would not be threatened, we are supporting another trade agreement that would send manufactures from China to low-wage, low-environmental-law-enforcement areas around China.
This is a very serious problem.
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