The Act would also have encouraged a race to the bottom, where bad actors identify the states with the worst oversight of notaries and standards, and set up 'notary mills' there.

I agree with this as far as it goes. But threats as to potential prosecution are problematic in many ways, however useful. The financial crew (Summers, Geitner and, let us not forget, Bush appointee Bernanke) took the financial mindset into their meetings. All big picture, we all know how these things work, which is fine, up to a point. It would have helped tremendously, however, had they included a real lawyer in the group, one with the clout to challenge what was being said. One with the wherewithal to stand up and ask to see the supposedly unbreakable contracts and, if rebuffed, to laugh in their faces at the prospect of trying to push that past either court or public opinion. It's the kind of thing at which the best of corporate counsel used to excel, before the primary qualification for that role became simply putting an 'OK' stamp on whatever the bosses wanted. Much of this might have been nipped in the bud.