Good news for some states in August. While California showed a rise in unemployment to 12.2%, Wisconsin's unemployment rate continued to fall in August. Minnesota's unemployment similarly fell.

Initial filings for unemployment insurance fell by 12,000 last week, from 557,000 to 545,000. That is the good news. Unfortunately, the bad news is that the number of continuing jobless claims keeps growing.

Are you concerned about the health of your bank? You should be. Analysts continue to warn that many banks are carrying too much bad debt. How can you check on your bank's health, though?

Long-term mortgage rates continued to trickle down last week. It was a very slight drop, but as current mortgage rates remain near historic lows, interest in home sales will continue to rise, perhaps helping the economy bounce back faster.

Money market funds, in general, are safe ways to gain interest, with in general, higher rates than savings accounts. Much like mutual funds, they have a share price, which is usually $1 per share. Money market funds are uninsured, though in the past they have always been safe. That is, unless something like the mortgage collapse and the "Great Recession" happens.

In the midst of this horrific recession, we certainly do not need additional bad news. That said, a second wave of debt has been theorized as a coming storm by some economists: credit card debt. Yet, some banks are proactively beginning to work with their cardholders, to stem another debt-related crash, similar to the mortgage mess. Seems that the banks themselves are doing the business of debt consolidation.

It's clear there's a recession going on, and it's also clear that it's a recession like none other, a Great Recession, some call it. While the recession's ugly toll can be seen in closures of businesses, increased use of food banks, and that like, there's nothing like numbers to bring us stark reality.

Consumers continued to save in June, with consumer debt dropping for the fifth straight month. Unfortunately, the message from economists is that consumers need to spend, spend, spend if the global economy is to recover.

Trina Thompson, 27, filed a lawsuit last week against Monroe College in Bronx Supreme Court. As she has been unable to find employment since graduating, she is suing for the $70,000 she paid in tuition.

Fifteen states and the District of Columbia now have unemployment rates above 10 percent, according to federal data released Friday. In Michigan, hard-hit by the auto industry downturn, the unemployment reate hit 15.2 percent, the first time any state has hit that mark since 1984. In 1984, it was West Virginia.