The Great Debate

Join us for a live chat today at 1 p.m. ET with James, who will be taking questions about his piece.

Call me a default-ista.

For a huge number of borrowers, be they U.S. homeowners or the sovereign nation of Greece, a default or radical rescheduling of debt might just be the best, most practicable option.

More to the point, default in many of these situations may be not just in the best interests of the debtor but of the economy as a whole.

First, homeowners. Something approaching 50 percent of U.S. mortgage-holders are underwater, meaning the value of the property is less than the value of the mortgage. If a second leg down in housing is under way, that figure will get much higher and the distance to the surface much longer.

It is an axiom of mortgage lending that it is usually far better for the lender to modify, or to cut the principal or repayments, than to suffer the expense of a default. Yet, what few modifications are being done are usually not nearly generous enough to give the borrower an honest economic interest in sticking with the loan.

The drama unfolding in Athens contains all the usual ingredients for a modern crisis. Poorly disclosed derivative transactions. Inadequate accounting for off-balance sheet liabilities. Investment banks eager to structure complex transactions in return for fat fees. And a furtive but gullible government that thought it could get something for nothing.

Life is a lottery; some loans go wrong in the ordinary course of events. But behind every really bad loan or class of loans, like subprime mortgages, there are greedy and foolish bankers and equally culpable borrowers. Greece is no exception.

The Greek state has only itself to blame for manipulating accounting rules and derivatives markets to run up unsustainable debts. But the banks that structured those transactions are hardly blameless and cannot really complain if they do not get all their money back.