Why is this a problem? Most of the catholics I know have just had their marriages anulled. I'm sure many of my catholic friends on this forum can enlighten me as to the practice.
In one of my friends cases, it was very difficult to get his anullment.
The problem comes in if there has not been an annulment. And not all requests for annulments are granted, contrary to popular belief.
You're right. The annulment situation is a huge scandal for American Catholics. Far too many are granted. However, even with the high amount of annulments being granted, most divorced Catholics do not bother (paperwork, hassle, intrusion into personal life, etc) to obtain one. It is when these same people want to remarry that their status becomes a problem.