Strategic Defaults
Thanks to netmouse for the link to a recent NYT article on the simple justification for homeowner foreclosure.
This issue is of course very timely because of the recent real estate collapse which has left huge numbers of people burdened by hopelessly undervalued mortgages. It is made much more poignant, however, by the fact that the collapse was largely ( Read more... )
You're kidding! I've heard of non-competes that state that you can't start a competing business -- i.e. walk off with your former employer's expertise, suppliers and clients -- but not even take a job with a pre-existing competitor? That's insane.
What's funny is how the companies -- who have the advantage of resources and position -- are formalizing these things that just used to be called things like "trust", "fairness" and "good business". As an example, i promised myself that i would never own a recording studio that could compete with my former employer -- because there's trust there, and i care about those people, and even on a professional level i care about my relationship with them. There are always people who don't play nice and take advantage of those who do -- and we used to view them as "bad business", and often they eventually failed as a result of their lack of integrity. So are these bad practices now becoming the norm because of a landscape where transactions take place too quickly for real relationships to develop? ... and if so, note how the companies can now move to defend themselves with things like credit ratings and ridiculous contracts, and how the people don't have the resource or expertise (read "army of lawyers") to defend themselves.
So where does this lead? To a world where everyone has to have an "agent" to negotiate the terms of their new job, or home, or car loan, or cell phone contract?
Personally, i'll be looking for a different way out.
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