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” but there is NO “contractual obligation.” “

As I concede the point, I also point out that you (almost) masterfully seized on minutia to deflect from the main thrust of my comment - that as long as the Gummint has money to spend on other programs, there is no moral basis for defaulting on this obligation (call it ‘legal’ or ‘moral’ - it still works out the same)...

Without checking, I’ll bet that you were among those who expressed outrage on the Mortgage Crisis threads that the ‘deadbeats’ defaulting on mortgages and buying Cadillacs with the money.. You can’t have ‘situational morality’......

Actually, if you go back and check those mortgage default threads, you’ll see that I was one of the people who was taking heat VERY early on for telling people the following:

1. The banks lied. The banks have been perpetrating frauds upon the courts in their bankruptcy filings, their affidavits for ownership of the notes, etc.

2. I’ve repeatedly stated that I’d rather that a few people (relative to the size of the US property market) get free houses before I’d see the law shredded to protect corrupt banks.

3. I’ve repeatedly stated that MERS is a sham, created to defraud counties out of real property filing fees.

4. From the outset of the financial crisis, I’ve been a hard-ass on the banks and bankers. When the auction rate security crap hit the fan, I was one of the people here on FR taking heat from people who were sticking up for the banks, even as I was proving to them that the auction rate securities market and the securities themselves were frauds.

Consistently throughout, I have stuck up for the law, financial consequences be damned.

And, I would add this:

I am not one of those people who claim that a mortgage is a “moral obligation to repay.” Those who default on a mortgage and give back the collateral (ie, the property) have met the terms of the contract.

I consistently have held that people are under no such “moral obligation” to repay debt which they cannot repay. They are bound by the terms of the mortgage contract, which stipulates the terms of what happens if they cannot or do not repay the loan. That’s it.

Banks default on loans all the time, and (ironically) no less than the National Association of Realtors defaulted on their own mortgage on their new headquarters in DC. Morgan Stanley defaulted on five properties they bought in San Francisco. Sam Zell, famous real estate investor, has allowed subsidiaries to go to BK and default on loans. If the big investors and banks play by this set of rules, and it is legal, then I believe that the little guy should be able to avail himself of the same laws.