Recently we have been hearing more and more reports that the recession is nearing its end, but these news stories are going to do little to ease the minds of large numbers of people that have have lost, or are in fear of losing their jobs.

August was yet another tough month for jobs, as 42 states in the nation reported job losses during the month. That number is up from 29 states in July.

Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) expects almost half of all U.S. homeowners to be underwater -- figuratively, of course -- by 2011.

Declines in home prices and the fact that some of those difficult mortgages just aren't going away put 26% of homeowners in this situation by the end of last March, and it seems the situation is only going to get worse. Unlike the early stages of the credit crisis, which were driven by subprime mortgages, the next iteration will have a greater effect on prime mortgage borrowers, which comprise two-thirds of the loans outstanding.

According to a report today from the Labor Department, 15 states now have unemployment rates above 10%.

The most recent states to see unemployment above 10% are the southern states of Georgia and Alabama. The worst hit state remains Michigan, where the collapse of America's auto industry is having its biggest impact on jobs. Unemployment in Michigan is now sitting at 15.2%.

The federal government, for better or worse, has been increasing the money supply as fast as it can in an attempt to prevent a collapse of our financial system, stabilize the housing market, improve the employment outlook and rehabilitate our nations infrastructure.

Most economists have some fear of inflation as a result of this, even if the fear is not for three to five years. To combat the increase in money supply we need to balance it out with an increase in productivity.

The market was lower most of the day after the Commerce Department reported that consumers were saving a lot more than they were spending. Frankly, after yesterday's big gains today could have sold off much more and there would have been little concern.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,433.78 -38.62 (-0.46%)
S&P 500 918.48 -1.78 (-0.19%)
Nasdaq 1,838.22 +8.68 (0.47%)

The employment data is in for April, and it is not a pretty picture, as all but 6 states in the country saw increases in the number of jobless claims.

We all hope that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is right, and the economy is going to start to turn around in the latter part of this year, but even the most optimistic forecasters agree that unemployment is going to continue to rise, possibly above 10% before the worst is over.

Rising unemployment will result from more than just trouble in private industry, and that could help push the jobless rate closer to 10% as the year passes. States and municipalities are working harder and harder to cut their work forces, or at least curtail their work hours and benefits.

According to the AP, "Unions argue their members shouldn't be singled out and are even more vital in hard times -- securing neighborhoods and prisons, educating children and providing social services to growing numbers of citizens." That may be accurate, but states running huge deficits will grasp at any life preserver they can find.

The problem raises the subject of how the $825 billion stimulus package can be be used. Putting it into infrastructure projects may work, but that will take time. Building out roads, the energy grid, and broadband systems can require months of planning. Those are months the economy does not have.

Putting money directly into state treasuries has a nearly immediate positive impact. Tens of thousands of workers in places from California to Michigan could keep their jobs. It may not create new employment, but is certainly keeps joblessness from spiking higher.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

There is increasing evidence that states like California and Michigan, which are running huge budget deficits, will need federal aid to keep their essential services operating. They could plummet an already battered federal budget billions of dollars further into a deficit.

The need for state bailout funds seems to be growing and growing quickly. According to MSNBC, "In Ohio, which has shed 100,000 jobs in the past year, Gov. Ted Strickland (D) and his budget team spend a lot of time delivering bad news to constituents and plotting ways to wring money from the federal government." The state's two-year budget deficit could rise to well over $7 billion.

In places like Ohio and Michigan, matters are only going to get worse. Big industrial states are extremely likely to lose more jobs and businesses as sectors from automotive to retailing may see some companies disappear completely.

The issue that becomes more troubling every day is whether there is a finite limit to what the federal government can spend to save the national economy. Of course there is, but no one knows that number, which means no one can predict which industries and municipalities will get capital.

With so many beggars, the new Congress and administration are going to run low on hand-outs.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

If one of more of the car makers fails, unemployment in Michigan could go above 10%. The state is already the mortgage foreclosure capital of the world. The tax base has bee ravaged. Michigan may not be able to take much more.

According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription requited), "Michigan has been in a seven-straight year recession," says Patrick Anderson, chief executive of Anderson Economic Group, an East Lansing, Mich., consulting firm.

The news headlines about states in trouble have gone to California. But it does not rely on one industry for a huge portion of its employment. Car companies are also major tax payers. Michigan's budget could go billions of dollars into the red if that income disappears.

What happens if a car firm goes down? Michigan could go into receivership. It has already happened to several of the cities there, including Flint, one of the largest.

Of course, if that happens, the federal government will be left holding the bag. Congress will have to find another few billion to fix what is becoming a long, long line of bailouts.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

The state of California is nearly out of money and nearly out of options.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sharpened his attack Wednesday against his fellow Republicans as he declared that California's budget shortfall has grown to $14.8 billion for the current fiscal year -- several billion more than the shortfall legislators already have been unable to solve.

One option to balance the budget is to cut state services. Politicians rarely like that. It looks bad to the voters. The Legislature could raise taxes on homes and businesses. That looks bad to the taxpayers, too. With falling home prices, failing businesses, and rising unemployment, getting more money into the state treasury may also be impractical.

That brings the conversation around to what happens on the day California can't pay its bills -- any of them. State workers don't get checks. Neither do contractors. Business failures and unemployment gets worse. The house begins to collapse in on itself.

It is too early to make a definitive statement about the eventual solution, but the only ready source of the magnitude of capital needed is the federal government. That would be the same federal government that is printing money to save banks, car companies, and mortgages. How many states will get into real trouble in the next couple of months? Add Michigan and Florida to the list. Unemployment is rising and property prices are plunging. The situation could give the bailout war a whole new front to fight on.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Rumors are swirling about a possible merger of General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Chrysler. Such a deal would be predicated on the cost savings from merging operations -- read: closing factories and laying off workers. Some analysts speculate that half of Chrysler's 55 thousand employees would lose their jobs.

Given that Michigan already has the highest unemployment rate in the country -- 8.9% -- it'd be a crushing body blow to an area already beaten down by foreclosures and a weak economy.

But it's also inevitable -- a merger might expedite the downturn in the short run while limiting its long-term impact. Detroit's decline has been seen as an inevitability for decades and was the subject of Michael Moore's first documentary in 1989: Roger & Me. Moore lamented the layoffs and their impact on Flint but the reality is that had the initial pain been more drastic as the company pursued cost-cutting, the current situation might not be as dire. We're probably in a similar situation now, although it may be too late this time for anything to really matter.

For investors, it's hard to see any long-term upside in shares of General Motors. A merger might assuage the problem of the company's cost structure, but all the competitive advantages will still lie overseas.

This post is part of our Big Company, Small Town series, featuring large companies and the small towns in which they are headquartered.

Is there any piece of furniture more classically American than the La-Z-Boy recliner? It goes hand in hand with the image of Dad -- any Dad, all Dads, from the 1950s to today -- enjoying the simple pleasure of sitting with his feet up and his head back, tempting sleep as he reads the paper. After a long day at work but before the wife puts a delicious roast on the table, there's always time to relax a bit in the world's most famous comfy chair.

La-Z-Boy (NYSE: LZB) invented the first version of that iconic chair in 1929. The company got its start a few years earlier when two cousins, Edward M. Knabusch and Edwin J. Shoemaker, founded the Kna-Shoe Manufacturing Co. in Monroe, Michigan. They made furniture and cabinets in the proverbial start-up garage, and they has some initial success, especially with new designs like the Gossiper, a bench with a phone stand built in. But competitors kept stealing their designs and their profits. So when someone suggested that they upholster their popular wooden recliner, they proceeded carefully, filing for patents and choosing a distinctive name. Sit-N-Snooze and Slack-Back were in the running, but La-Z-Boy was the name they finally selected for the world's first reclining upholstered chair.

The La-Z-Boy was a huge hit, although it hadn't yet achieved its truly classic form. That occurred in 1953, when the Otto-Matic model was introduced. The long-running problem of the ottoman, a separate piece of furniture needed to support the feet while relaxing in a comfy chair, had now been solved. From now on, the ottoman was rendered superfluous, since the La-Z-Boy could offer a built-in foot rest. Oh, sweet perfection!

This post is part of our Big Company, Small Town series, featuring large companies and the small towns in which they are headquartered.

There are probably very few people growing up in North America that have not had Kellogg's (NYSE: K) cereal at some time. I know people that have breakfast cereal for lunch or diner as well. It is the number one U.S. breakfast cereal maker, ahead of General Mills (NYSE: GIS). Among its well-known brands are Frosted Flakes and Rice Krispies.

The company, founded by Keith (W.K.) Kellogg and brother, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, began with only 44 employees in 1906. Today it employs more than 30,000 people, manufactures in 18 countries, and sells products in more than 180 countries.

Kellogg is a big company in a small town but it is not alone. Battle Creek, Michigan, known as the "Cereal City," is the world headquarters of Kellogg Company and also the home of Post Cereals, which was part of General Foods Corporation and is now part of Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT). When Kellogg started, there were 42 other cereal companies in Battle Creek.

This post is part of our Big Company, Small Town series, featuring large companies and the small towns in which they are headquartered.

The Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) is capitalized at about $40 billion dollars and produces a multitude of household and industrial products that probably touch most Americans lives in some way. It is the largest chemical company in the U.S. and number two worldwide (ahead of ExxonMobil and behind BASF), and it is also a leader in performance plastics.

On May 18, 1897, Dow Chemical incorporated, based on Herbert H. Dow's plan to manufacture and sell bleach on a commercial scale. A year later they were in full-scale commercial production. The Dow-in-diamond mark was created to help resolve product shipping problems. In 1900, the Midland Chemical Company merged into Dow Chemical.

The company was always evolving under the guidance of Mr. Dow, who in 1913 announced the company would exit the bleach business to refocus to the value of chlorine as a raw material, prompting Dow stock to rise dramatically.

We have all been there before, standing beside the luggage conveyor belt after a long flight, quietly praying for our luggage to magically pop out of that little window and slide our way. When our luggage finally shows up, it typically means the end of a long day that generally has the potential to stress out most travelers.

For me at least, as long as I get my luggage I am satisfied with my trip. But for a lot of us, there are several factors we use to grade the airlines, and a recent survey shows that customer dissatisfaction is running at near record level lows. These factors include anything from planes leaving and arriving on time, to the service inside the plane from fight attendants, to just how easily mishaps get handled by the agents at the ticketing desks.

Having lived in Europe the past few years, I have been no stranger to the long distance flight back and forth to the States. I suppose I have traveled roughly 100,000 miles on airlines over the past couple of years, and I have to say that for the most part I have had very pleasant experiences. My girlfriend was unfortunate enough to have lost some luggage for a week over this past Christmas, but other than that, I have been pretty lucky.