Huh? You mean withdrawing money to pay the mortgage is "I don't care about the future"?
I borrowed as much as I could from my 401k for my farm in Kentucky. It wasn’t hardship. It was getting a galt’s plateau with the cheapest money possible.
I can’t answer for him, but I believe the impulse is that people don’t believe they are going to be able to retire. So they use those funds to get by today, figuring they’ll just keep working and paying as they go for as long as possible.
The stupid and the greedy are those who stop paying their mortgages and then just blow that money they used to spend on their mortgages for toys and other wasteful purposes (which, incidentally, is contributing to the anemic sustainment of some retail numbers, though even they are through the floor).
If you’re going to do strategically default on a mortgage, at least put that money into something that will sustain you when financial Armageddon strikes.