Yes, marriage equality and climate change and reproductive rights are all important issues---as the last couple of days have reminded us! But also, freedom:
Steven and Joan Bailey say they're two-time victims of a broken foreclosure system.In 2010, they lost their North Carolina home to a foreclosure they say shouldn't have happened because they were seeking a loan modification at the time. This year, they eagerly awaited their check from a big bank settlement engineered by the government to compensate millions of borrowers for past foreclosure abuses. They expected at least $6,000 or even the maximum---$125,000.
Their check arrived in April---for $800. Less than a month's rent on their apartment.
It's getting increasingly difficult to figure out how your humble blogger---or anyone else---can possibly give the current administration a passing grade once its term of office has expired. This problem has been festering for years, next to nothing has been done to rectify it, and it's one of the biggest reasons the economy remains so sluggish despite the recovery in equities, low interest rates and so forth. And yes, I know GOP obstruction and 60 votes, etc., but a great deal of this fiasco could have been resolved---and still could!---by executive action. (If the President has the power to assassinate people, why wouldn't he have the power to break up a banking cartel? Isn't that why we have antitrust laws on the books?) But first, the administration has to acknowledge the severity of the problem. And for whatever reason, they still haven't done that. So, not a passing grade.
---Baron V
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