Not quite -- the money for the bailouts comes directly out of the taxpayers' pockets, in the form of taxes. So debtors, who are nominally also taxpayers, are effectively having to pay these companies twice. Once, because of their own poor decisions, and again, because of the lending companies' poor decisions.
In this case, I think that not paying is more a form of civil disobedience, Thomas Payne style, than anything else.
I didn't feel like working so that my neighbor can walk away from their mortgage and my relatives can walk away from their credit card debt. So I don't anymore.
I didn't come here to see mindless talking points parroted back at me.
If you want to actually talk about the complexities of debt and the problems on all sides of the issue, by all means do so. If you want to shout slogans, please go somewhere else.
People are walking away from debt obligations.
- mortgages (12% of all mortgage, 50% subprime, 50% options)
- credit cards (13% default)
- personal bankruptcies (up 28% in second quarter)
federal/states/local governments are walking away from debt obligation
- pension reduction
- massive printing of dollar, $250B treasury selling this week
Companies are walking away from debt obligation
- commercial mortgages delinquency up 586% this half
- pension discharged by bankruptcy
Guess who's paying for this. That's right; the taxpayers.
So. Are you the sucker that's gonna keep on paying taxes?
All these you can google yourself (too many links to list here) I didn't come here to list all the bad things, since I doubt you even comprehend 1% of the atrocities. Therefore, I kept it simple for you.
If society decides to declare a general "jubilee" year, and cancel all debts, and you decide to pay off yours, it is true that you are at a disadvantage.
If society decides in general to massively devalue the currency to help irresponsible borrowers, that will punish responsible savers.
However, these do not imply "not working". That can imply not valuing currency as much, so you consider your salary less, or defaulting on your own debts even though it is distasteful to you, or all sorts of things, but it is unlikely to work out well for you if you are on strike while the prolifigrate borrowers are not.
If you want to go on strike, you will have much more effect by going on a spending strike rather than a working strike. I have been considering getting a bumber sticker for my rusty 1988 VW that says "I am going to keep fixing and driving this POS until the bailout money is paid back".
While I will agree there a tons of irresponsible borrowers but I wish people would give some anger over the irresponsible lenders that helped create this mess.
There were far too many companies willing to throw as much credit around as it was more profitable to lend more than people could handle.
It was getting to the point that all you needed to get $10,000 of credit cards was a pulse... and even then that wasn't needed.
Rather than refusing to work, doesn't it make much more sense to refuse to use credit cards and refuse to buy a house on credit (as much as possible anyway) ?
After all, the credit card rates you pay reflect their defaults. So just use cash or a debit card or other means until the credit card industry quits giving cards to those people. Your mortgage rate and "mortgage insurance" and other fees reflect the defaults of sub-prime mortgages and other unwise decisions; rent until you can buy a cheap house on a 15 year fixed rate mortgage, or perhaps you have enough savings to buy a house at foreclosure auctions.
Of course, if you are frustrated because you are paying interest on a lot of credit card debt and have a high house payment for a bigger house than you need, perhaps you are more part of the problem than you think. Perhaps by holding on you are just becoming the last level of a pyramid scheme.
In this case, I think that not paying is more a form of civil disobedience, Thomas Payne style, than anything else.