Tishman's Alternative To Bankruptcy

Tishman Venture Gives Up Stuyvesant Project - WSJ.com:
"'It has become clear to us through this process that the only viable alternative to bankruptcy would be to transfer control and operation of the property, in an orderly manner, to the lenders and their representatives,' the venture said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal. 'We make this decision as we feel a battle over the property or a contested bankruptcy proceeding is not in the long-term interest of the property, its residents, our partnership or the city.'"

A few weeks back I posted an article from the New York Times called Walk Away From Your Mortgage. It concerned the New Morality of "strategic defaults" by a growing number of  underwater home debtors. The article discussed the differences between how individuals and large corporations are morally judged when they decide to strategically default (SD) on a bad investment. It seems the average individual's SD is frowned upon by most, and according to one source in the article the individual "should think twice "about the “message” they will send to “their family and their kids and their friends.”" On the other hand corporate SD's are hailed by the financial community as being "smart business decisions."

Well her's another example of a corporation, Tishman to be specific, having no problem with a strategic default of massive proportions. According to the article they "just gave the project up." Nicely worded don't you think? No moral baggage, no shame, very orderly transition of ownership back to the bank, how precious and moral.

To see how others are viewing the controversy, I've added a link to a few comments on an NPR article from one of my favorite financial blogs,  Calculated Risk . I hope they will prove as thought provoking for you as they were for me.

Update:
More comments from yet another NYTimes article titled No Aid or Rebound in Sight, More Homeowners Just Walk Away.