Embeded Puts From Here On Out?

I was talking with a buddy the other day who had a sizable chunk of cash sitting in his bank account. He also just bought a nice used car. We were chatting and he told me that he had to hurry up and buy the car because he was going thru a short sale and he wouldnt be able to get financing later on in the year.

A few days passed and I realized he was financing a car when he could buy it out right. I asked him about it. He exclaimed that he was doing it so that if stuff really went south he could put the car back to the lender.

I wondering how many people adopt the same mentality with lenders from this point going forward. I can only imagine this whole bank bailout shenanigans has made people mad enough to hate all lenders.

Will interest rates be higher from this point onward because of a shift from paying off a debt being honorable to "walking away" being the way to stick it to the banksters?