Read this article in the HuffPost about 25% of homeowners are upside down on their mortgages. The author then tries to argue that it is really OK for these people to walk away from their mortgages! Goes on to interview a bunch of people about their situations. But most of the examples are of people that have lost jobs or have other financial problems and had to stop paying the mortgage and other things.
You would think that this journalist could distinguish between someone that is not happy about their “home investment” and someone that has had a financial crisis. In the former instance, there is no rationale for walking away from a contract unless it was fraud. Think about it. Many people buy cars and are shortly underwater on the loan so the car is worth less than the loan. People don’t automatically walk away from the loan! If you do, you owe the bank the difference anyway. There is nothing in law or the “bible” that says your home should always go up in value and if it doesn’t you don’t have to honor the purchase contract.
I really find this thinking disgusting and makes you wonder who these people think they are? They were not forced to buy their house. They knew that the value could go up or down or stay the same. There is no question that they have a moral, and legal obligation to pay the mortgage.
The other situation where the person has suffered some financial crises like loss of job or big medical bills or other life shit sandwhiches is different. At least I have sympathy for them. Shit happens. Hard decisions have to be made to keep a roof over the head and food on the table. Whatever needs to be done is done. There are consequences and some are probably unfair. America is not a good place to fall on hard times. But this is not a special case. The value of the house that has gone down just compounds the problems. Some people file bankrupcy, some manage to cut costs and continue to pay bills, some end up in court.
There is no new moral question here.