It's hardly a small problem either. I can see it unfold every single day in my code base.

I've spent weeks trying to make minor changes to code like that because I'm afraid changing one variable is going to backfire because it's used in some unexpected way somewhere else.

On the other hand I've also been the bad guy before, too. I've realized how much work refactoring is going to be, and instead of making the project managers mad at me I just slapped in some additional cyclomatic complexity.

Everyone wins... in the present. We get to check off our to do lists. Everyone in the future loses. Technical debt is an apt metaphor.