diane estabrook, nightly business report, stonington, illinois. >> susie: here's what we're watching for you for next week. our friday market monitor is marshall front, chairman of front barnett associates. also next week, the july reports on existing home sales, and a check on consumer and producer prices. on monday, we kick off a weeklong series looking at ways to fix the economy. our focus: solutions for europe debt crisis, the u.s. housing market, and businesses both big and small. federal investigators say mortgage fraud is still widespread, despite modest improvements in the economy. an f.b.i. report released today says schemes are prevalent and often difficult to discover. the scams range from short sale fraud, illegal flipping of houses, and outright house stealing. perpetrators range from members of the mortgage industry to organized crime groups from overseas. a former managing director of the nasdaq exchange was sentenced today to three-and-a- half years in jail for insider trading. donald l. johnson had pleaded guilty to charges of insider trading back in may. johnson bou

as we continue our series, how the fix the economy, diane estabrook talks with some consumers who say the sour economy is turning them into mindsers. misers. >> reporter: at this chicago target store, heidi pfetcher is checking off the items on her daughter's school supply list. her lesson plan for this year? stick to a budget. >> we're really watching our money and watching our pennies and here buying school supplies and getting ready for the school year. >> reporter: throughout this store we found a lot of penny- pinching consumers. and who can blame them? gasoline prices are still taking a huge bite out of household budgets. and speaking of houses, home prices continue to slide, making consumers feel even poorer. and then there's that nagging problem of high unemployment. even if you have a job, you may be wored about keeping it. just ask chicago public school teacher jim maccione. he worries that state and municipal belt tightening could do away with his. >> it's a little disconcerting as far as making plans to remodel the house, or fix the car. any long term commitment we're kind