On the news that Whirlpool plans to move an Indiana factory to Mexico, joining so many other manufacturers abandoning America, the president of the largest manufacturing union in North America spoke to an expert on manufacturing about the crisis this exodus is causing the U.S. economy.

I think we can all agree that we live in a nation whose destiny is driven by the Dollar. Am I right? So it helps to know in which corners those powerful Dollars are stacked. That’s where the lobbyists come in. They tell Gov-Co what to do and they pay to have it done. Generally, whoever pays the most, wins.

Satisfied with their own highly regulated banking system, and struggling for their own fiscal security in the wake of a global economic earthquake triggered by US banking corruption — the EU has decided to tell the “international banking geniuses” in the US to stick it. And, other funny economic news….

There is a tendency in politics to see everything in a small time horizon. The fight in front of you is the one that is most important one there is. The problem with this approach is that it lets the clock run out on issues that you should be able to see coming and address before they become a catastrophe. In the late winter and early spring of 2008 everyone knew there was something very rotten in the housing market. Prices were falling and the number of loans in default or foreclosure was growing every month. This would have been a good time take action to address it, but there was a presidential primary race and a big election coming up, so it went on, basically ignored until the weakness in housing caused the financial system to collapse.

The wins that the President and the Democratic Party enjoyed in 2008 were due, in part, to the correct assessment by the public that the Republican Party did were to blame for the crisis and would not really do anything to fix it or prevent it from happening again.

One of the proximate causes of the housing collapse was the increase in payments from ARM loans. This process is called payment shock. It comes along in waves depending of the LIBOR (London Inter Bank Overnight Rate) average. Adjustable Rate Mortgages are most commonly tied to the 6-month LIBOR. When that rate goes up so do the interest rates and payments on ARM’s.

Take a look at this chart, which Amherst Securities created projecting the amount of payment shock in the next few years.

In September of 2008 13 billion of total loan recast. In October another 12 billion recast. This lead, in some cases to payments doubling and in all these cases payments going up significantly. The ability of people to get out of their houses or to refinance them dried up completely and the housing bubble collapsed.

We’re all now painfully aware that our financial sector was permitted to run amuck under the previous administration and our government failed to stop it. To address this problem, today I proudly cast my vote for H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. While I think more expansive reforms of the financial sector are necessary, this legislation is an important first-step that will go far in helping to protect consumers, investors, homeowners, and tenants.