139 U.S. Banks closed so far this year

That doesn't give any perspective, since banks close all the time.

Here's a list of banks that have failed since October 2000.

http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html

That shows ~140 in 2010, and ~140 in 2009, ~25 in 2008, 3 in 2007, 4 in 2004, 3 in 2003, ~20 in 2002, 4 in 2001 and 2 in 2000. (Approximate numbers, since I didn't count very accurately and I'm not going for a journalism award here.)

So yeah, that's a LOT more banks than normal, with both 2009 and 2010 being really, really bad.

In some ways, I am so clueless and insulated. My financial problems really aren't related to the recession and I currently have a fairly secure job. I am not making enough money, but that really has nothing to do with the economy.

I read this and my reaction is something like "Wow, there really is a recession on." :-/