I usually agree with the sentiment that if you borrow something you damn well better pay it back. However, I think admriker444 is justified in being upset that the US is willing to pass the mistakes of the US financial institutions on to tax-payers, while derivative traders are still getting bonuses, and providing no relief for people who spend a good portion of their life studying their asses off in school to then get a job that barely (if ever) pays off their education.So why is it exactly that banking institutions with more gross income than the GDP of a third world country, companies that are critical to the global financial system, can declare bankruptcy and instantly eliminate all responsibility, but a single person who invested years of their life educating themselves, often for the betterment of society (ie/ doctors, scientists, engineers) under almost no circumstance can discharge their student loans?Why do we allow a person who doesn't even possess a high school degree to accumulate 10 or 20 credit cards, max out the limit, and then declare bankruptcy with little more than a slap on the wrist?Why is it that the government is trying to placate people (through mortgage rate renegotiation, abatement, and subsidies) who purchased homes they couldn't afford?So, the real question is why do we reward the incompetent and punish the responsible?I think the simple answer is the intelligencia (to borrow a word from Colbert) are the minority.I'm left-leaning, I like social programs, I'd like everyone to have access to healthcare. I like the idea that we have a social security system in place to help our elderly, but we haveto stop lettingpeople off the hook! I'll be paying student loans for the next 20 years of my life and I'll probably pay 40-50K in interest. And that's fine. I signed up for that and I knew what I was getting in to, but when I see everyone else getting a free ride while I work 100 hour work-weeks (yes, I really do work that much) then I'm going to look for every way I can to cheat this broken, dishonorable system. Why should I play fair when everyone else is gaming the system?So this becomes a question of what values do we want to enshrine in our culture? Do we want to devolve to a game of last-man standing, because that's where we're headed. Or do we want to instead encourage people to stand up and be accountable?I'm not suggesting we revert back to 18th century law, but people who purchased homes they couldn't afford should lose them. Living in an apartment ain't that bad. Investment bankers who lied should be forced to return their bonuses and pay other monetary damages. If they can't afford to do it immediately, they can pay it back over time.There's no reason to be unduly cruel to any of these people, but everyone should pay their due. Otherwise why should I? Why should admriker444? Why should anyone?