Some new numbers have come out that serve as a reminder that the country is in a recession, regardless of what economists say. Last month, personal bankruptcies increased by 9 percent,according to the American Bankruptcy Institute.

That translates into 135,914 people who last month decided that their lives would be better off post-bankruptcy, than continuing to slog on and sink into a morass of financial despair. Hopefully, the fresh start will help, though you can just imagine that plenty of those people are still unemployed, and while now debt-free, or relatively debt free, aren't yet bringing in a serious income to fund their personal recoveries.

What do you make of a guy who doesn't want to go to work so badly that he stabs himself in the leg? And then calls the police to report that he's been knifed? All so he can avoid working his shift at Blockbuster Video.

The Denver Post reported earlier this week that when 29-year-old Aaron Siebers walked into Blockbuster at the start of his evening shift, he claimed he had been attacked by three people -- skinheads, he said at first. Indeed, he had a deep wound in his leg and several lesser cuts.

A manhunt soon ensued, complete with police dogs. Then the police started finding holes not just in his leg, but his story, For starters, he claimed to have been attacked near a Target, but the cameras didn't pick up the incident or show any suspicious activity.

Siebers eventually recanted and admitted that he had abducted himself at knife point.

Almost every Friday this year, usually in the evening, a grim announcement is released to the public: Another bank has failed.

Sure enough, Friday came and went, and with it, came the announcement that another bank had failed. Actually, not just one bank had failed -- but nine. That's the most that's occurred on any one day this year.

So far this year, that brings the total number of bank failures to 115. The nine new banks are in California, Illinois, Texas and Arizona, all subsidiaries of FBOP Corp, a holding company based in Oak Park, Ill. And while nine bank failures at once is a lot, because they're all part of the same company, it doesn't seem as chilling a day as it might otherwise would have been.

If there's any good news in the recession, it's been that maybe -- just maybe -- people are learning enough lessons about spending habits that the next generation might be able to avoid some of the financial mistakes that have consumed the Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. At least, that's my takeaway from MetLife's recent survey of 2,200 adults, where they asked Americans about their new financial habits. Here's what people had to say about the changes they've made:

Making the rounds in the media from the Associated Press to USA Today is the news that Bank of America -- starting next year -- will be giving credit card users a new fee, ranging from $29 to $99 a year.

What's odd is that not everyone will get this charge. Bank of America has been calling it an "experimental" fee. Spokeswoman Betty Riess told the Associated Press that the customers selected to get the extra $29 to $99 add-on are based on "risk and profitability."

We can only speculate, but that sounds like the people who are mired in debt (high risk) will get it and those are aren't very profitable to Bank of America (the customers who pay off their balances every month).

Earlier today, Senators Chris Dodd, Jack Reed, Charles Schumer and Sherrod Brown unveiled a long awaited bill that will, if enacted, make it harder for banks to lob overdraft fees at their customers.

If the Fairness and Accountability in Receiving (FAIR) Overdraft Coverage act passes, it will do many things, including:

• require banks to warn customers if a withdrawal made at an ATM or bank branch will overdraw their account.
• keeping banks from processing debits to make it likely that more transactions will incur "bounce" fees
• require overdraft fees to be in proportion to the bank's costs in processing them
• forbid banks from automatically enrolling customers in overdraft programs without their permission
• prohibit banks from including overdraft protection in a statement of the customer's available balance
• limit the number of overdraft fees that banks can charge from one per month to six per year

Several banks came out this week with the news that their earnings are extremely robust. Recession? What recession? In fact, part of the reason the Dow recently topped 10,000 is credited to how the nation's banks have been doing.

If you want to keep score, here's how some of the nation's biggest banks are faring:

• JPMorgan Chase & Co: Reported a $3.59 billion profit in third-quarter earnings (between July and September). It's a pretty neat hat trick, given that they said they had to double the amount of money originally set aside for failed home and credit card loans. But it's investment banking that's bringing in the profits.
• Goldman Sachs: Earned $3.19 billion in profit in the same period, which is almost the most it has ever made in a three-month period. The company is doing so well, I'm thinking I definitely went into the wrong business, no matter how much I enjoy my life as a writer. The Wall Street Journal reports that the bank's 31,700 employees are poised to earn an average of $700,000 each in 2009, which is a record for the 140-year-old firm.
• Citigroup: Managed a profit of $101 million in the third quarter of the year. Compared to JPMorgan and Goldman, these profits almost make Citigroup look like a slacker.

It's like some credit card companies want to be ridiculed. What else can you say about a company offering a credit card with a 79.9% APR?

At first, I thought it was a joke or a misprint. But then I saw it confirmed in no less a reputable source than American Banking News, and realized that--Oh. My. God. It's true. Yes, First Premier Bank is offering a "Premier Card" credit card with a 79.9% APR.

Yes, 79.9%.

San Diego's NBC affiliate broke the story when alerted by a viewer Gordon Hageman, who told reporter Bob Hansen, "I think they're trying to take advantage of me." Hageman's retort: "Ya think?"

The comments among WalletPop writers were along the same lines. WalletPop regular Zac Bissonnette offered some words that my editors would censor if I repeated them here, but he did see one bright side: "79.9% is one HELL of an incentive to pay your balance in full each month."

Home sweet home doesn't mean quite what it used to. Not to homeowners who want to sell their home but can't, thanks to a weak market. Not to those facing foreclosure, who will soon lose the roof over their heads. Not to the potential home buyers who are having more trouble securing loans than they used to. And not to real estate agents, who are having more trouble selling those houses these days and are seeing their commissions dropping.

But mortgage lenders like the old saying just fine, and as a group, they're probably quite pleased by the current state of the market.

The Philadelphia Inquirer recently ran an interesting story about a musician who recently received a $150 check from his agent. It was issued by PNC Bank, and so when the musician passed by one of the branches, he decided to go inside and cash the check.

That's when he learned it would be $10 for him to receive his cash.

As Steve Cohen, a professional piano player and a singer, told Inquirer columnist Jeff Gelles, "I've just never seen a bank operate that way."

The article goes onto note that PNC Bank recently upped its fee for noncustomers to cash a PNC check, from $5 to $10.