Shadow Economy Shows Joblessness Less Than Meets U.S. Eye

When Kevin Kalmes received a foreclosure notice on her home after being unemployed for more than two years, she said she started selling the contents of her basement, figuring that “I can’t fit all this stuff in a Wal-Mart shopping cart.”

“Then I just kept the basement sale open, forever, without getting permits, because I didn’t sell it all,” said Kalmes, 61, who lives in Chicago. She then sold items for family, neighbors and friends and dubbed her never-ending sale the “Little Shop of Hoarders.”