Foreclosure Delays Provide an Underground Stimulus
The delays in the foreclosure process are giving what some people are calling a “stealth stimulus” to defaulting home owners who continue to live – or even rent out – their homes.

The subsidy is worth about $2.6 billion a month, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal. That’s about 0.25 percent of U.S. personal income and equivalent to what top earners receive from the Bush-era tax breaks.

Some defaulters are banking the money in hopes they will get a mortgage mortification, but most are just using the money for things like food, car payments, etc. Others are renting the properties out and making a few dollars.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Mark Whitehouse (11/01/2010)