[quote=Arraya]btw – I don’t believe it says anywhere in a mortgage contract that you break your “word” if you decide to not pay. It says you give the property back. So I see no reason why defaulting would be word breaking. I believe that is what White refers to in his paper as “social control agents” manipulating emotions. It’s not an agreement with our uncle Goober to make payments on his tractor and you skip town.[/quote]
The words “I, [Name], hereby promises to pay” are on every mortgage contract (I just checked mine to be sure – yup, it’s there). (A mortgage, after all is nothing more than a Promissory Note – that’s derived from “promise” – collateralized by a property. Look up “mortgage” on wikipedia.) If you believe that breaking a “promise” is breaking your “word” (as I do), then in fact you do break your word when you choose to give the property back. The difference between a “promise” and your “word” is a distinction without a difference. So, I see defaulting as “word breaking.” And for the bazillionth time, just to be clear, if you’re tapped out and you have to break your word, then so be it. This I can understand. But if you’re breaking your word merely because keeping it is inconvenient, that I cannot condone. Again, we can agree to disagree on this.
