What is the Philly/Fed Index and why is it important? The Philly/Fed Index measures manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia area. While it measures only one area of the country, over the years it has been a leading index for manufacturing overall.

Why bother measuring the manufacturing sector? The main reason is that manufacturing accounts for 12% of our GDP. Growth in manufacturing indicates that orders are picking up. If orders are picking up, the next step is to hire more workers. Hiring more workers speeds the growth of our economy and at the same time puts unemployed persons back to work.

The loans that got us into this mess were generally the first to fall. Variable rate mortgages written without documentation for people with sketchy credit histories shocked nobody as their slide became an avalanche. But, the good stuff is starting to follow. An increasing amount of fixed rate mortgages offered to borrowers with solid credit histories are feeling their ways to foreclosure. Blame unemployment for this one. When people can't work, it gets pretty hard to pay the mortgage.

Fixed rate, high quality mortgages had a foreclosure a year ago. Last quarter, it jumped to 33%, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association report. As this happened, the amount of homeowners behind on their payments or in foreclosure just set another record high ... for the ninth month in a row. Subprime mortgages are headed in the other direction. Low quality adjustable rate mortgages are now 16% of new foreclosures -- compared to 35% last year. And, more than 18% of Federal Housing Administration loans are anywhere from one payment behind to in foreclosure, with California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida worst off: together, they accounted for 44% of new foreclosures.

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Here's a shocker! Over the next decade the U.S. government is expected to rack up $9 trillion in debt. More than half that amount, $4.8 trillion, will be in interest payments.

To further emphasize the depth of the problem, in 2015 interest due will be $533 billion, equal to 1/3 of the federal income taxes!

Right now, the Treasury is in a sweet spot with regards to interest payments. With interest rates at near zero, we are able to finance trillions of dollars of debt with practically no interest payments. That scenario is about to change. The change could be rather quick. If the economy heats up, interest rates will rise and so too will interest payments. Because the debt is so large, only a small rise in interest payments could increase the interest burden by a large amount.

After-hours traders punished Dell (DELL) stock Thursday, following a weak third quarter earnings report from the technology giant.

Going into the afternoon earnings release, analysts had been expecting to see the company show earnings of 28 cents per share. Actual earnings came in much lower at 23 cents per share.

U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, says he expects the House to vote on legislation that would create more jobs by the year-end holiday recess.

"Clearly 10.2% unemployment is unacceptable and is causing great pain to literally millions of people around the country," U.S. Rep. Hoyer said, CNN.com reported Tuesday.

A minor caution flag for the Obama administration: President Obama's approval rating as surveyed by a major poll has fallen below 50% for the first time since his inauguration.

Obama's approval rating fell to 48% in polling done by Quinnipiac University. The Quinnipiac University Poll surveyed 2,518 registered voters November 9-16 and has a margin of error of +/- 2%. The 48% approval rating is down from a 59% approval rating in February/March.

Further, the percentage of registered voters who approve of Obama's handling of the economy also declined, to 43% in November from 47% in October. On the economy, the approval rating was split along party lines: 13% of Republicans approved, compared to 38% for Independents, and 77% for Democrats.

Although some members of his administration don't hold Fox News in too high of regard, President Barack Obama did sit down with the news outlet to discuss the economy. In the interview, President Obama offered what some are calling his "sternest warning" about containing deficits. President Obama believes that a further compilation of government debt could lead to a double-dip recession.

The president believes that his administration faces a "delicate balance of trying to boost the economy and spur job creation," but the administration has to set the economy on "a path toward long-term deficit reduction." He noted that it is important "to recognize ... that at some point, people could lose confidence in the U.S. economy in a way that could actually lead to a double-dip recession."

The only thing that has been devalued faster than our precious dollar is the perpetual slide in government credibility. Over the years we have heard countless times about the importance of a strong dollar from our leaders.

"Our administration believes in and will do everything in its power to support a strong dollar" or something like this has been spewed out by Republicans and Democrats alike, yet there is little evidence that the policies put in place over the past century have done anything of the sort. Perhaps there was one person that took the heat and did the right thing -- Paul Volcker, during the Carter administration, who had to deal with dizzying inflation.

Who is Paolo Pellegrini? Pellegrini is a Rome-born analyst who helped hedge fund operator John Paulson make tons of money in the subprime crash of 2007-2008.

It was Pellegrini who led the number crunching on mortgages and home prices and came to the conclusion that housing prices were about to collapse. Paulson's hedge fund took advantage of this data and proceeded to make $3.5 billion on his trades.

Separate reports showed simultaneous improvements and declines in the U.S. economy.

First the good news. The Commerce Department reported that retail sales rose 1.4% in October, after falling 2.3% in September. It must be noted that September sales were revised downward from a previous -1.5%.

The boost came for auto sales, which rose 7.4%, after a drop of 14.4% in September. The sharp drop in September was mainly due to the termination of the "cash for clunkers" program.

One aspect of globalization -- basically free markets and the transfer of jobs to lower labor cost production centers -- that remains a high research priority for many economists studying markets is consumer spending. Or, more specifically, where are all the new, international consumers going to come from?

That's because the world in this early stage of the globalization era has an abundance of manufacturers and producers, but it hasn't identified where all the new shoppers will come from for the increased amount of goods.

For a quick "economic upper," check out the recent Columbia University forum on business and the U.S. economy featuring Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, which will undoubtedly be re-broadcast on CNBC during the holiday season. Amey Stone of DailyFinance has a good summary of the event.

One key takeaway: Gates, whose company Microsoft (MSFT) invented computer operating systems and software that revolutionized the business world, is now forecasting that alternative sources of energy will soon be discovered. These are not only cheaper than current energy forms, but also environmentally friendly.

What's one good short-hand for investors concerning whether the current, very-young U.S. economic recovery can last?

Keep an eye on the price of gasoline. And that's not too hard to do, for most Americans, given the abundance of gas stations in most areas. If you're far from one, you can get a snapshot of prices regionally, by visiting gasbuddy.com.

Europe, font of western civilization, is growing again. The euro-zone officially entered a recovery with GDP in the 16-nation zone increasing 0.4% in Q3 compared to the previous quarter, Eurostat, the European Union's official statistics agency, announced Friday. Europe's economy had contracted for the five previous quarters.

Meanwhile, growth in the 27-nation E.U. (EU27), which includes nations that aren't members of the euro monetary system, increased 0.2% in Q3.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Singapore Thursday, told Bloomberg News he sees "early signs" that the world is addressing imbalances in spending and saving that contributed to the global financial crisis. That's likely to be interpreted as a bullish sign by institutional investors.

Equally important, meeting attendees, which include finance ministers from China, Japan, and Australia, also reiterated a pledge to maintain stimulus efforts "until a durable recovery in private demand is secured."