My thoughts: Any moral imperative to "do the right thing" is dead in this country, and pointless. We as taxpayers have been ripped off over a TRILLION $$$$ by government bailouts to banks. If the banks can take our money, we have a right to walk away from our loans and leave the banks on the hook for the money.

Here's a cut/paste of the first part of the article

It’s OK to Walk Away, A Law Professor Argues

Many Americans are enraged by the thought that some people are simply “walking away” from their homes—in other words, ceasing to make monthly loan payments and waiting for the lender to foreclose. How irresponsible! How unfair to those of us who do pay our bills!

Brent T. White, an associate professor of law at the University of Arizona, has a different perspective: “Homeowners should be walking away in droves,” he writes in a new discussion paper entitled “Underwater and Not Walking Away: Shame, Fear and the Social Management of the Housing Crisis.” (Read the full paper.)

A failure to grasp the true economics of the situation is holding back many Americans whose home values have dropped far below the amount they owe and who would be better off renting, Mr. White says. Fear, shame and guilt also are preventing rational decisions, he believes. And, he says, those “emotional constraints” are encouraged by politicians and bankers, who ruthlessly and amorally follow their own economic interests while telling Joe Soggy Homeowner he has a moral duty to pay his debt so long as he possibly can.