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> I distinctly remember stories on NPR during the crisis that browbeat homeowners who did this or thinking about doing this, claiming it was “unethical”. Whate
by wharvle 3y ago
> I distinctly remember stories on NPR during the crisis that browbeat homeowners who did this or thinking about doing this, claiming it was “unethical”.
Whatever one thinks of the rest of the book, everyone should internalize the part of Graeber’s Debt in which he explains that connecting moral duty to personal debt under impersonal capitalism (if not, perhaps, to debt owed someone you know) is grade-A bullshit.
It’s just business. Make the move that is best for you, period. Sometimes that’s default! It’s probably nice for lenders if people believe there’s some moral duty attached, but that moral duty is only ever gonna go one way, so don’t fall for it. They’re not doing you a favor. It’s business. They make profit because there’s risk.
- FireBeyond 3y ago> It’s probably nice for lenders if people believe there’s some moral duty attached And this leads to immoral decisions on the part of lenders/creditors/debt collectors, the most obnoxious of this is hospitals etc., leaning on (if not extremely heavily implying legal responsibility to) families of people who have passed away to assume responsibility for their medical debt, because their loved one wouldn't have wanted to shirk it, or some such bullshit.
- wharvle 3y agoTotally. I’ve known credit card companies to pull the same shit—deceased was the only one on the account, call and try to get relatives to assume the debt, implying that they have to, and trying to shame them into it if that doesn’t work. I bet it works often.