“when our eyes are opened and we see how we are being manipulated and robbed by crooks at every level..”
The decline in my home value is not realized until a sale occurs. By “walking away” the robbery becomes a reality. I prefer to maintain control of my own affairs and not give the bankers more power than they already have.
“...”honor” in dealing with such people is a relativist concept”
Relativism is not a very conservative concept.
“I can foresee “every man for himself (and his family’s security”) coming into play some day when making decisions about whether my family, bereft of our 201K retirement savings, eats .... or a loan company and local tax collector gets paid”
That is not what this author is discussing. The choice between food and the mortgage is real for many folks and their walking away from the mortgage is their only choice. This author is walking away from the mortgage when that choice is not even in play.
It’s not really a ‘robbery’ to walk away. The remedy for the mortgage not being paid is written into the mortgage. If you don’t pay, they get the house. If the bank wasn’t satisfied with this remedy, they shouldn’t have written the loan that way. Remember, they are the ones who wrote it.
It wouldn’t be something I’d want to consider, but then again, I didn’t consider getting into one of these silly situations in the first place. But if I had, knowing that the banks are getting bailouts with my tax dollars, why not let them deal with the albatross of the rapidly devaluing house around their neck instead of me? Meanwhile, I put my money away, downsize, and rent somewhere.