This isn't about a social norm. This isn't about non-payment of debts generally. This is about a very specific and narrow type of loan. The creditors here chose a risk. They could have insisted on security. They could have asked for collateral (ie the deeding over of a property right for a mortgage). They did not. They extended credit on nothing more than a promise and in full knowledge of bankruptcy laws. They also sold these debts onto other knowledgeable investors. The social norm at risk here is the idea that all debts should be treated equally, that we should force unsecured debts to be repaid as if they were secured. To equate credit card debt with mortgages and car loans, that's the really dangerous moral path.

We cannot force debtors to repay money in perpetuity. That's half way to indentured servitude, or worse. If someone has no hope of every paying off their debts, the logical thing to do is not bother trying. That is waste. And we long ago abandoned the idea of debtors prison. Puerto Rico cannot be jailed nor can it be forced to make payments forever as that would destroy their economy forever. The only reasonable thing is to eliminate the debts through the legal process.