Quote from denner:
A quote on another site summed it up succinctly. That next door neighbor who has been out of work for several years, stopped paying his mortgage, collects food stamps and has been living off of unemployment insurance AND no one is the wiser. i.e. the outward signs of personal struggle have been largely masked by all the stop gap hand outs that have turned this into a "silent" depressionary event. The real raw numbers are horrific, yet the vocal majority who always ask for proof or offer anecdotes of their neighbors buying new gadgets, second cars, etc...once you stop paying the mortgage, stop paying for food and can collect unemployment to boot, you're living better than any working stiff out there.